Latest news with #IskoMoreno
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Manila's Mayor Returns to Office to Face Mountains of Trash
Francisco Domagoso returned to office as Manila's mayor on Monday to the news that the companies that collect the city's garbage were ending their services that day, citing unpaid bills. Weeks before, piles of garbage had started taking over the city, the Philippine capital. In some areas, roads became impassable for cars. Mountains of refuse lined crowded commercial areas, as well as the wide avenues leading to City Hall and the country's Supreme Court. Trash bags and discarded crates floated down streets flooded by the monsoon rains. Litter is a fact of life in Manila, where grand colonial buildings are cramped by modern high-rises and dense shanty towns. But for weeks, the smell of rot has grown inescapable for nearly two million residents as uncollected waste stewed in the humid Southeast Asian weather. 'It hurts the eyes, it hurts the nose, and it hurts public health,' Mr. Domagoso said, speaking on a livestream on Monday, where he asked residents to store garbage in their homes until collection returned to normal. He declared a state of emergency in the city the next day. The mayor himself, a former actor known as Isko Moreno, worked as a garbage collector before beginning his acting career. In a speech to the City Council on Tuesday, Mr. Domagoso blamed the government of the previous mayor, Honey Lacuna, for leaving the city in debt to the garbage collectors. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Philippines: Manila warns of health emergency over mounting rubbish
Manila, one of the world's most densely-populated cities, is set to declare a health emergency due to mounds of uncollected newly-elected mayor, Francisco Domagoso, has advised the Philippine capital's nearly two million residents to refrain from taking out their waste until the city finds a new bin he assumed office Tuesday, Domagoso said Manila's two rubbish collection contractors quit, citing millions of dollars in owed payments."The rubbish situation is harmful to our health. They are an eyesore. They stink," Domagoso said. "Rubbish dumped carelessly is harmful to the elderly, to the sick and to children. Insects that fly over piles of trash can land on the food we eat," Domagoso said in a Facebook broadcast on appealed to Manila residents, "If possible, if only just for a while, please delay bringing your trash out. Keep it inside your homes until we normalise the collection of garbage in Manila".He said he hoped the new city council would declare a health emergency as early as Tuesday to give him wider authority to address the rubbish former teen idol, also known by his screen name Isko Moreno, won the May election, promising to "Make Manila Great Again". On Tuesday morning, he led city authorities in washing down the streets of downtown Manila with water and soap from fire also prioritised cleaning up the city's streets during his first three-year term as mayor that ended in 2022. While cleaning a monument near city hall in 2019, he accidentally stepped on human excrement on the pavement, underscoring the seriousness of the task at campaign then was considered largely successful and made him a popular national figure. He tried to parlay this into a presidential campaign in 2022 but he lost to incumbent Ferdinand Marcos Monday, Domagoso said two bin collection companies, PhilEco and MetroWaste, had terminated their contracts with the city, since it owes them 400 million pesos ($7m; £5m).Leonel, a previous waste collection contractor, said Manila owed it more than 560 million Domagoso said Leonel has agreed to resume collecting rubbish for free after he "begged" them to do so."We continue bathing the streets and we won't stop until the filth is gone," Domagoso wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday, showing photos of freshly washed said in a television interview on Tuesday that he expected the waste situation to return to normal in three days.
GMA Network
5 days ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Isko Moreno: Manila garbage situation to return to normal in 3 days
After saying that a health emergency will be declared in Manila due to the garbage crisis and termination of the operation of two garbage collections, Mayor Isko Moreno on Tuesday said that he expects the situation to return to normal in three days. 'I think naka-55% na kami. Ang tantsa naming mga three days babalik na sa normalization, hopefully,' Moreno said in a report of Jhomer Apresto on GMA Integrated News' Unang Balita. (I think we are at 55%. Our estimate is that we will return to normal in three days, hopefully.) According to Moreno, the two contractors, PhilEco and MetroWaste, stopped their operations in the city due to unsettled payments since January. Also, the former contractor Leonel is still unpaid. Almost P400 million remains unsettled to PhilEco and MetroWaste, while P561 million is owed to previous contractor Leonel. Since Monday, Moreno has been inspecting the collection of the accumulated garbage in the streets. —Joviland Rita/ VAL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
6 days ago
- Health
- GMA Network
Manila garbage crisis forces Isko Moreno to declare ‘health emergency'
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno on Monday announced the declaration of a health emergency in the city after two new garbage collection contractors terminated their operations. 'I opted to declare and request the city council tomorrow, first session day, declare a state of health emergency in the entire city of Manila,' Moreno said in a press conference. 'For the past so many weeks, we've been receiving a lot of complaints and requests from the people of Manila to confront the garbage situation of the city,' he added. According to Moreno, the two contractors, PhilEco and MetroWaste, stopped their operations in the city due to unsettled payments since January. Also, the former contractor Leonel is still unpaid. Moreno said around P950 million of payments remain unsettled for the garbage collection services from the past administration. The mayor said the local government will take over the trash collection in Manila. —RF, GMA Integrated News
