By Ellalyn de Vera-Ruiz
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will hire at least 2,000 waterway or “estero” rangers to help address indiscriminate waste disposal and improve garbage collection within their respective jurisdictions.
Waste merchants continue to scavenge along the Estero de Sunog Apog in Tondo. (Camille Ante/ MB FILE PHOTO)
“We would like to impress upon the public that we really need to overhaul the disposal system in Metro Manila, make it efficient, and for the public to stop dumping trash into our waterways,” DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu, head of the inter-agency Manila Bay Task Force, said.
Hiring estero rangers addresses the dumping of garbage in esteros. The DENR observed that the indiscriminate dumping of waste has been partly due to the non-collection of garbage from informal family settlers living in narrow alleys near esteros.
The DENR chief said that two estero rangers will be initially deployed to 711 barangays where there are alleys traversed by esteros and not reached by garbage trucks. These alleys are mostly populated by informal settler families.
Cimatu said he already gave a directive to look into the possibility of increasing the number of estero rangers to at least 2,000, so that four may be deployed to each barangay.
The estero rangers will be endorsed by their barangay officials in coordination with the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
Under the contract, an estero ranger gets a monthly salary of P8,500 for a five-day work week schedule.
He or she is tasked to conduct the removal of garbage from esteros fitted with trash traps and house-to-house garbage collection in selected alleys for transfer and storage at pickup points accessible to garbage trucks.
The estero rangers will be commissioned on November 15 at the DENR central office grounds in Quezon City.
At least 203 creeks and waterways traversing the 711 barangays will be serviced by the estero rangers.