The DILG Region III spearheaded the conduct of an Environmental Compliance Audit (ECA) on the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 in the 13 Cities, 81 Municipalities and 2, 324 Barangays within the Manila Bay Watershed Area during the 4th Quarter of CY 2012.
The said audit is aimed is to assess the compliance of the Local Government Units with the key legal provisions of Basic Environmental Laws particularly RA No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. It is also geared in ensuring that environmental issues and concerns are brought to the attention of local and national leaders. It will see to it that public officers tasked to implement environmental laws actually do their duties and sustain its implementation.
The intent of ECA is not to find failures in compliance with these laws by the LGUs but to help them realize that there are gaps in their compliance with basic environmental laws, and that there is a need for action. Two sets of Data Capture Forms were utilized for the purpose: One, for the Cities and Municipalities and the other for the barangays, both emphasizing five (5) Key Legal Provisions of RA No. 9003 namely: Segregation at Source, Segregated Collection, Functional Material Recovery Facility, Disposal Facilities and Anti-Littering and any other ordinances related to environment. During the forum conducted for the purpose, the results of the 4th quarter ECA per province were presented by the MED. A slight discrepancy on the result of the barangays and the LGUs were noticed. Hence, a validation or verification of the data submitted will be conducted by the Local ENRO.