Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders
by Rowel Montes
Tacloban City–The images from Barangay 100, San Roque, Tacloban City tell a story the city government has long tried to downplay: a growing garbage crisis that reflects not just poor waste management, but a deeper failure in the delivery of basic public services.
Piled sacks of mixed waste line the roadside. Makeshift shelters are hemmed in by trash. Plastic, food waste, and recyclables are left to rot under rain clouds, threatening nearby waterways and communities. This is not an isolated scene. It is a lived reality for residents who endure the consequences of neglect long after taxes have been paid and promises have been made.
A concerned citizen, Dom Cinco, sent these photos to raise awareness—not to shame neighbors, but to call attention to a systemic problem. The question is no longer who dumped the garbage, but why it was allowed to accumulate in the first place.
Tacloban City prides itself on efficiency in tax collection. Business permits, real property taxes, and other local fees are collected with diligence and speed. Yet when it comes to the most basic service—regular and reliable garbage collection—the same urgency is nowhere to be found. Residents are asked to comply, to pay, to cooperate. But what happens when the city itself fails to do its part?
Uncollected waste is not just an eyesore. It is a public health risk. It attracts pests, clogs drainage systems, worsens flooding, and contaminates soil and water. In a city that has already endured disasters, allowing garbage to pile up in vulnerable communities is an act of negligence that borders on irresponsibility.
The Local Government Code mandates LGUs to ensure environmental sanitation and solid waste management. The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) is clear about segregation, collection, and disposal. Yet on the ground, these laws mean little if enforcement is selective and services are inconsistent.
Residents of Barangay 100, San Roque—and many other barangays—deserve answers:
- Why is garbage collection irregular or absent in some areas?
- Where is the city’s long-term solid waste management plan?
- How are funds allocated, and why are basic services lagging despite steady revenue collection?
Awareness is only the first step. What Tacloban City needs is accountability. Cleanliness cannot be reduced to slogans or social media campaigns urging citizens to “work together” while government inaction remains unaddressed. Partnership requires both sides to act—and the greater responsibility rests with those in power.
The garbage in these photos is not just waste. It is evidence. Evidence of a city government that collects efficiently but delivers poorly, and of communities left to bear the cost of that imbalance.
If Tacloban City is serious about being safe, clean, and resilient, it must start where governance truly matters: by turning taxes into tangible services, and by treating waste management not as an afterthought, but as a public duty that cannot be ignored.
