ON June 14, my children and I checked in at the Sheraton Hotel in Malate for a quick family staycation. Staying in hotels has been a luxurious pastime we enjoy once in a while. We had randomly chosen the hotel online—it was our first time booking in the Manila area. As my children were going through the security check that afternoon, I saw Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Moreno standing near the entrance. It was a casual but memorable encounter, just two weeks before he would return to City Hall and declare Manila under a garbage crisis.
I greeted him and mentioned that I used to see him attending his Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila off-campus master’s classes in Public Administration at the Senate. We exchanged a few words, and he showed a fatherly concern for my makukulit grandsons as they also went through the hotel’s security check.
We loved Sheraton. It was cozy, shala (sosyal)—with a coffee shop and a beautiful restaurant where we enjoyed a buffet breakfast the next morning. We were even more delighted when we learned that we were in the Manila-Korea Friendship area. It was lined with Korean and Japanese shops and commercial establishments, almost making us feel like we were in Seoul or Tokyo—until we saw the garbage.
Outside a nearby McDonald’s, bins were overflowing. Plastic bottles, soda cans, cups, and food wrappers littered the sidewalk. Had I seen that before meeting Mayor Isko, I might have brought it up with him, as any concerned journalist would do. I remember doing something similar with then Sulu Vice Governor Toto Tan during a visit to his residence, along with my friend, former Sulu Congresswoman Lady Anne Sahidulla. In the following days, I was pleased to see garbage trucks collecting trash around Sulu.
In Manila, the garbage crisis worsened after its longtime hauler, Leonel Waste Management, halted operations in late 2024 over unpaid fees of ₱561 million. In response, former Mayor Honey Lacuna scrambled to contract new haulers and sought MMDA support. But the garbage kept piling up.
Upon reassuming office, Mayor Isko acted swiftly. “Our situation regarding garbage is an eyesore, a nosebleed, and a health hazard,” he said. Declaring a state of health emergency, he urged barangay officials to set politics aside and take action.
Manila deserves clean streets—not just for its image, but for the constituents’ health and dignity. Mayor Moreno’s call to “confront the problem head-on” is a welcome one. But this is a shared responsibility. Citizens must do their part too, because the real emergency is not just the garbage, but the inaction and indifference toward it.
