Candidates, whether they won or lost in the May 9 national and local elections, must clean up their own mess through the campaign materials they posted in the past months, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Acting Secretary Jim O. Sampulna said on Thursday, May 12.
As then applicants for government posts, Sampulna said candidates should take the lead in the clean up and dispose of campaign materials in accordance with Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
“Win or lose, these candidates must consider the long-term consequences of their campaign materials in the environment. Therefore, they must encourage their supporters and volunteers to take down these materials, especially those made of plastic, and dispose these properly,” Sampulna said.
“We will make sure that the existing environmental laws, such as RA 9003, will strengthen the resolution,” he added.
One of them, according to the DENR chief, is to make sure that a resolution will be crafted requiring candidates to remove election materials after every campaign period.
Sampulna said candidates must show the same vigor of removing their campaign materials like the way they did in posting them during the campaign period.
“Candidates could show how sincere they are in serving the country this way,” said.
Sampulna recommended the recycling and upcycling campaign materials to lessen the by-products that will be disposed of in the dumpsites.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has so far collected 252 tons of campaign materials in the National Capital Region alone.