Manila Bulletin
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EcoWaste urges communities to shun plastic banderitas for Santo Niño feast
Philippines
National
EcoWaste urges communities to shun plastic banderitas for Santo Niño feast
EcoWaste urges communities to shun plastic banderitas for Santo Niño feast
By Jel Santos
Published Jan 13, 2026 04:38 pm
(MB FILE PHOTO)
Ahead of the Santo Niño feast on Sunday, Jan. 18, the EcoWaste Coalition appealed to parish and barangay officials in Pandacan and Tondo to discourage the use of single-use plastic banderitas, citing their role in aggravating Manila’s solid waste problem.
The group said that based on its latest monitoring, residents have already begun decorating streets and alleys with garlands commonly made from new plastic “labo,” newly cut plastic strips, or plastic scraps.
“Banderitas made of disposable plastics have begun to sprout like mushrooms in the streets and alleys of Tondo and Pandacan as if communities are having a ‘pahabaan, padamihan, pabonggahan’ contest,” said Ochie Tolentino, zero waste campaigner of the EcoWaste Coalition, on Tuesday, Jan. 13.
Tondo is home to the Santo Niño de Tondo, while Pandacan is home to the Santo Niño de Pandacan.
The EcoWaste Coalition warned that the widespread use of plastic decorations during the feast could mirror the surge of plastic waste seen during election periods.
“If there was a ‘war’ of plastic tarpaulins during the last mid-term elections, we can expect a similar ‘battle’ of plastic banderitas in these communities as if the City of Manila is not facing a huge garbage problem,” Tolentino said.
The group likened fiesta banderitas to “litter in the sky,” noting that these decorations eventually end up as waste dumped in landfills along with other types of garbage.
“We therefore appeal to all parish and barangay officials to use their authority to dissuade the faithful from the non-essential and wasteful practice of hanging single-use plastic banderitas,” he said.
“This practice goes against the efforts to stop plastic waste from poisoning our ecosystems and our bodies. Every piece of disposable banderitas is a step backward from the zero waste and toxics-free future we aspire to,” he added.
Per EcoWaste Coalition, single-use disposable banderitas have no aesthetic, practical, or spiritual significance and only add to the volume of preventable waste generated during fiesta celebrations.
“Cleanup crews just collected truckloads of Traslacion trash in Luneta and Quiapo, and they are now bracing up for the Santo Niño fiesta garbage challenge,” Tolentino said.
The group said avoiding single-use plastic banderitas would support efforts to eradicate plastic pollution, one of the six ecological actions adopted during the 128th Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in 2024.
The EcoWaste Coalition recalled that the bishops in 2019 issued a pastoral letter on ecology entitled “An Urgent Call for Ecological Conversion, Hope in the Face of Climate Emergency,” affirming the Church’s commitment to live out the principles of Laudato Si, the encyclical of Pope Francis on care for the environment and humanity.