Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando said he expects a busy month ahead for garbage collectors when the campaign period for the May 14 elections reaches the homestretch, the elections are held and the votes counted.

The local government units (LGU) in Metro Manila earlier admitted that shortage of manpower may not enable them to cope with the unusually heavy volume of discarded posters, leaflets, sample ballots and other campaign materials that will be plastered on walls, posts and trees and strewn all over the 17 towns and cities that make up the metropolis.

Fernando appealed to all political candidates and their leaders to brief their supporters against littering for they pose great health risks and traffic hazards aside from being a prime cause of clogging in the drainage system.

"This has been an MMDA problem ever since. After the elections and the counting, no candidate would bother to lend a hand in the cleanup," Fernando said.

Aside from being eyesores, the tons of garbage may literally end up on esteros, rivers, creeks and other major waterways causing heavy flooding during the rainy season.

He called on all candidates to exercise their sense of patriotism and encourage their supporters to assist the MMDA in the cleanup drive.

"It would even be better if the candidates, as part of their patriotic duty to the country, to tap their supporters in collecting trash in all election precincts," Fernando said.

Fernando expressed concern that the uncollected garbage would again find their way into the drainage mains, causing more flood problems especially in the low-lying areas of the metropolis.

MMDA Flood Control Unit Director Baltazar Melgar said anew that no amount of continuous cleaning of inlets and drainage mains could prevent clogging if the public continues to indiscriminately throw their waste in the streets and waterways.

Under normal circumstances, studies show, an average of 750 fully laden dump trucks of garbage and other waste materials are collected daily in the major waterways of Manila alone.

Melgar added that the number of garbage collected is expected to reach insurmountable levels with the expected rise in the number of discarded campaign materials after elections.

He appealed to the public to refrain from dumping their waste indiscriminately and to strictly follow the waste segregation and disposal program of the MMDA.

Million of pesos are earmarked by the MMDA yearly for its flood control program that includes the construction of drainage structures and cleaning and desilting of major waterways.