Trash QC’s garbage fee

The new Quezon City ordinance imposing an annual garbage fee, to be collected together with the realty taxes and the so-called housing tax (supposedly to build houses for squatters), has been approved. During the pretentious “public hearings” called purportedly to gauge public opinion about the new infliction, opposition to that proposed ordinance was vigorous (nay, brutally blunt) and overwhelming. In fact, no one spoke in its favor, except City Hall officials and their stooges embedded among the crowd! Samples of such objections can be gleaned from past issues of the Inquirer.

To be sure, public distrust was too obvious to ignore. Yet, with alacrity, the entire city council passed the ordinance anyway! What the heck were the “public hearings” for?

Introduced by Councilor Victor Ferrer of the first district, the new law may appear to require the payment of a paltry amount (up to P500 per annum). But when computed on the basis of the total number of Quezon City households affected, it is estimated to add up to roughly P70 million per year.

Plunder and looting of public funds having become the rule rather than the exception on practically all levels of government service, the outrage of Quezon City residents cannot be overemphasized. How do they know the additional funds would not just end up in the pockets of corrupt officials?  To date, no one in City Hall has even come up with any credible accounting of the “housing taxes”—estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of pesos already—collected for two or three years now!

There is no caviling about the need for garbage management. It is really a complex and complicated problem. But when one thinks of how inept and inutile Quezon City officials are in managing the simplest of all problems, where did Councilor Ferrer get off saying the garbage fee law might do the trick? Consider, for instance, jeepney drivers who do not turn on their headlights at night. Such reckless imprudence puts lives and properties in danger. As a matter of law enforcement, it is really a no-brainer. Yet, City Hall officials remain helpless in dealing with such rambunctious recalcitrance.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to law enforcement. There are more than enough antilittering and garbage disposal laws already in effect, both at the local and national levels. As always, it is still a question of political will. Without it, the newfangled garbage fee law is bound to be an abysmal failure in terms of its well-intentioned purpose—but, alas, another gold mine for the incorrigibly unscrupulous! Quezon City residents’ clamor is unmistakable:  Ibasura  ang  garbage fee law!

—STEPHEN L. MONSANTO,

Monsanto Law Office,

Loyola Heights, Quezon City,

[email protected]