With the loads of garbage blamed for the widespread flooding in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, Malacañang has proposed heavier penalties for people who throw their waste in waterways and canals.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde cited the need for proper solid waste management as part of the planned review of the urban planning for Metro Manila to prevent a repeat of the destruction caused by tropical storm “Ondoy.”

“There should also be stronger penalties for those who mindlessly throw their rubbish, plastic included, in already choking urban waterways, canals, and the drainage outlets in the burgeoning metropolis,” Remonde said.

“The devastation inflicted by Ondoy in Metro Manila suggests the urgency of re-planning for Metro Manila, the country’s overly populated industrial and education bosom,” he said.

“We will have to plan anew based on very disturbing facts: Insufficient drainage systems, inadequate waterways, uncontrolled housing development, unreined encroachment of communities along already clogged water arteries aggravated by professional squatters,” he added.

Remonde said it was also imperative to upgrade the facilities for effective and efficient weather forecasting.

Meanwhile, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Lito Atienza said the nation’s coming to terms with the garbage problem as “a major national concern” is a positive side to the recent disaster.

“Tayong lahat ngayon ay may high-level awareness on the problem,” Atienza said at the media forum called by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) held Tuesday in Intramuros, Manila.

He said the country is now facing a distinct opportunity to rouse Filipinos into taking correct waste management practices as part of their daily good citizenship.

With public sentiments still fresh from tropical storm Ondoy’s wrath, Atienza said this would be the best time for local government authorities to clean drainages and other important water bodies of illegal structures and garbage which aggravated the recent flooding in the National Capital Region.

“Once and for all, ngayon na,” said Atienza, as he cautioned against taking a laid-back attitude on the problem. The lessons of Ondoy should never be forgotten even when things have normalized, he added.

Atienza noted, saying that the havoc ‘Ondoy’ wrought the past week may be just a precursor of things to come which would leave the poor to suffer most due to inept local leadership in addressing their constituency’s garbage issues.