Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. has sounded the alarm. Based on a World Bank report, 2.7 million tons of plastic waste materials produced in the Philippines end up in its own waters. He warned that this “could spell disaster to marine life, especially on coral reefs, as they will stay there for the long haul since they were non-biodegradable.

As this disturbing news story hit the headlines yesterday, a poster bearing a similar message has also been passed on among mobile phone users. The poster announces: “Nearly 36.38 percent of plastic ocean waste comes from one country.” That country is the Philippines.

Any diligent fact checker would then verify that this was sourced from Science Advances volume 7, issue 18 published in April 2021, and authored by L. J. J. Meier, which explained further: “These assessments demonstrated a significant correlation between (micro)plastic concentration data collected by surface trawls in rivers, national statistics on mismanaged plastic waste (MPW) generation, and population density.”

Being an archipelagic country, the Philippines has 18 major river basins and 421 principal rivers as reported by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB). The largest river basin is the Cagayan River; the other important rivers are Agno in Pangasinan; Pampanga, Pasig, and Bicol in Luzon; and Rio Grande de Mindanao and Agusan in Mindanao.

India, which is far larger than the Philippines in terms of land mass and population, accounts for only 12.9 percent. China, Indonesia and Brazil, other countries that are significantly more populous, account for single-digit-shares.

Metro Manilans could readily affirm this unpleasant reality as they have been accustomed to seeing the Pasig River in its polluted condition. Recently, President Ferdinand Marcos presided over a ceremony that launched the beautification of the Pasig River to underline the urgency and importance of transforming this major river into a showcase of the country’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

As pointed out by Secretary Abalos: “The Kalinisan sa Bagong Lipunan Program intends to uphold clean and green governance at barangay levels by promoting sustainable development and instilling the habit of cleanliness among residents to create livable communities.”

Elsewhere in the country, the Iloilo River stands as a model worthy of emulation. The Iloilo River Esplanade garnered recognition for the Iloilo City local government unit (LGU) in 2018, including the 2018 Galing Pook awardee for advocating ecological sustainability and providing the local communities a sense of security and livability.  It also received the Haligi ng Dangal award from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts for Landscape Architecture.

There is no reason why other LGUs would not aspire for similar honors. It is unthinkable that any self-respecting community would shy away from the imperative need to maintain cleanliness in each backyard, street, plaza, school, government office, church or home.