POLICY PAPER

ORDINANCE NO. 737

SEPTAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
ORDINANCE

ESC 42 – ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

SUBMITTED BY: NATHALIE KYRAH MOSTIERO

BSES – FOURTH YEAR
SY 2018-2019
 Table of Contents

Abstract/Executive Summary ………………………………………………………3

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………....…4

Problem Description

Size of City Governments in Countries Analyzed ………………………….5

Goals of Local Government as Seen by City Mayors ………………………6

Do You Think Local Governments in Your City …………………………...7

Actively Represent Interest of: Almost All Citizens,

Most Citizens, and Small Part of Citizens or Very Small

Groups Only?

Turnout in Local and the Closest Parliament ……………………………….9

(Lower Chamber) Elections

Model Explaining Variation between Countries ……………………….…...9

in the Model of Communication Between Local

Authorities and Citizens

Trends in Public Service Management …………………………………….10

Policy Options ……………………………………………………………………...12

Conclusions and Recommendations ………………………………………………..13

Endnotes ……………………………………………………………………....…….14

Bibliography …………………………………………………………………….......15

Appendices ………………………………………………………………………….15

Appendix 1 City Ordinance No. 37: Sewage Management System

Abstract/Executive Summary

In this research, effort has focused primarily on policy implementation and improving

innovative actions to address implementation strategy of one local ordinance. Details are
ongoing on how to measure the effectiveness of policy implementation at the local level

particularly in the city of Puerto Princesa. But there is no definitive theory of effective policy

implementation and very few frameworks have been found acceptable as the basis of an analysis

of the effectiveness of policy implementation especially on city’s septage management system

under ordinance no. 737. With the extreme problem on waste water among business

establishments and households in the city of Puerto Princesa, this article presents a modified

framework to assess the effectiveness of policy implementation by defining policy, practice, and

performance, as well as a feedback loop by which to share the lessons learned.

Introduction

Puerto Princesa, the city in the forest has its own directives and policies, particularlyused

to regulate entry of every citizens, investors and households into their respective communities. It
has provided opportunities for tourism and economiccity’s developments. Septage Management

Policyis established and created to help strengthen the sustainabilityof environmental impact in

the city.It also contributes to restore confidence in the government’s sole objective of protecting

its citizen’s safety and health. There are various safeguarding of environment policies that

hasundergone several changes. Since it was established, the institution of environment and

concernedagencies hadbeenthe subject of legislation in the city of Puerto Princesa. It is quite

important to note that this cited policy developed immediate awakening amongcritics, business

firms, households and stakeholders in termsof implementation concerning the environmental

impact system. This paper will explore safe and healthy environment policy as entailed in

community living condition. It will also endeavor to examine its contents as well as the changes

it has undergone since its conceptionto the present day.

Problem Description

Size of City Governments in Countries Analyzed

 Puerto Princesa City is a 1stclass HUC (Highly Urbanized City) in the Philippines.

According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 255,116 people, and known for being the

location of the Philippines’ Western Command headquarters. It is a city located in the western

province of Palawan, and westernmost city in the Philippines. Though the seat of government

and capital for the province, the city itself is one of 38 independent cities within the Philippines

not controlled by the province in which it is geographically located, and is therefore an

independent area located within Palawan. Also, it is the least densely populated city in the

Philippines. In terms of land area, the city is the second largest geography after Davao City with

an area of 2,381.02 square kilometres (919.32 sq mi).

Today, Puerto Princesa is a popular tourist city with many beach resorts and seafood

restaurants. It has been acclaimed several times as the cleanest and greenest city in the

Philippines. It is known as the Eco-Tourism Center of the Philippines. In recent years, the city

has seen a remarkable increase in the number of tourists bringing with them trade and businesses.

Many hotels ranging from basic to five-star luxury accommodations have been developed since

the 1990s to cater to a growing number of foreign and local tourists in the city. There are also a

large selection of restaurants, bars and shopping malls.

The transformation of Puerto Princesa City to HUC led to considerably embracing the new

environmental management impact system and policies towards the institutionalization and up to

integration. There is also a considerable development in elaboration of legislative acts policies

concerning the widening of business opportunities and increasing of population.

Goals of Local Government as Seen by City Mayors

 In consonance with the following national and local directives that pursue a policy of

economic growth in the city of Puerto Princesa in a manner consistent with the protection,

preservation and revival of the quality of its water: Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004; Section

17 of PD 856 – Code on Sanitation of the Philippines; Local Government Code (RA 7160);

Water District Law (PD 198) – the City Government of Puerto Princesa is committed to enhance

health, environment and the economic condition of the City to require households, public and

commercial establishment to have proper; Any use of water and its discharge of any wastewater

that no “Spent Water” shall be reintroduced to the environment without any proper treatment,

and that as a matter of policy, the use of any water shall be held responsible to treat the same.

The objectives of the policy proposals included in this paper are as follows:

 To ensure the strict implementation of the ordinance

 To educate the constituents in support of this ordinance

 To promote diversity in the community

 To clear responsibility for strategic decisions in relation to sewerage system

 To raise public awareness

The city government converging community wastewater management and adequate sewer

systems play important roles in sanitation and disease prevention. In many areas, proper

wastewater management is not practiced due to lack of resources, infrastructure, available

technology and space. Nevertheless, individual on-site sewage systems have been and continue

to be an important part of waste management in many business sectors and households in the city
of Puerto Princesato fulfill the city’s icon,“The City in the Forest.” Providing an adequate

sewage disposal is an important component in the protection of public health and the protection

of groundwater and surface water from pollution.

In general, however, city’s transition is focusing incessantly with its environmental policies

particularly on the septage management system, lack of initiative on the side of local authorities

and low public awareness. The majority of business sectors and households are taught with

intense massive information educational campaign.

Do You Think Local Governments in Your City Actively Represent Interest of: Almost All

Citizens, Most Citizens, and Small Part of Citizens or Very Small Groups Only?

For city government of Puerto Princesa, success in meeting the challenges of community

ultimately comes down to effectiveness in meeting the needs of people. For many of the city’s

people, past achievements, significant as they have been are not enough—especially given the

scale of the challenges facing contemporary community. Clearly, they must do more, and must

do it better. Increasingly, it is evident that one of the keys to future development is found in the

area of governance reform. Better governance means greater citizen participation and increased

public accountability. Together these conditions lead to improved and more equitable economic

development. Therefore, the city government and the stakeholders must be opened up to further

participation by the many actors whose contributions are essential to successful and equitable

economic development, and good and fair governance. This involves not only the reform of the

institutions of government but the mobilization and involvement of civil society, and the private

sector as well. The effective collaboration of these sectors is a necessary pre-condition for

people-centered development. Such development includes men and women of all age groups and
provides them with equal choice and access to a society’s services and opportunities. As a part of

the movement to good and equitable city governance, there has been a growing awareness of the

importance of decentralization as a means to enable people to participate more directly in the

decisions that shape their lives. Increasingly, it is recognized that participation in governance

processes helps empower people and that decentralization and strengthened local governance are

key elements in the achievement of this goal.

There are key issues that the city government needs to address such as the ff:

 Energy Consumption sifting through wastewater and storm water consumes almost 3% of

a developed nation’s electrical power annually. That means it’s one of the largest

expenses in the entire wastewater industry which will add to the city’s disbursement.

 When it comes to wastewater treatment, it’s important to have highly skilled individuals

who have the necessary training and education to get the job done right. These

individuals are responsible for everything from pipe leaks to electrical malfunctions and

unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them.

 Wastewater management facilities produce sludge; it’s the product of pulling all of the

waste out of our water supply. Unfortunately, producing this sludge also means cleaning

it up, which means there’s a huge footprint left on the environment.

The city ordinance shall apply to all buildings, facilities and structures whether public or

private, residential or commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, proposed/planned, or any

activity/endeavor that shall use water and produce wastewater with permanent or prolonged

effects to the environment within the territorial jurisdiction of Puerto Princesa City.
Turnout in Local and the Closest Parliament (Lower Chamber) Elections

The pluralist model of urban politics maintains that local governments are open to

influence from a wide range of groups and anticipate reactions of groups to policy choices. As

such, the city governmentdecisions largely become a function of public preferences. Most

residents in a given locality favor greater redistribution of public resourcesregardlessof whether

or not they actively vote—theyexpect political actors in that locality to enact measures to

increase redistribution. Thus, policy follows the preferences of the median resident not the

median voter and turnout should have no effect on spending patterns. A second, perhaps even

more common view is that city government’s decision making is largely a function of economic

considerations.

Model Explaining Variation Between Countries in the Model of Communication Between

Local Authorities and Citizens

The city government of Puerto Princesa remains a sphere of government with limited

legislative power and authority that operates within clearly defined geographical and legal

jurisdiction. The defining feature is the authority to enact legislation within the defined

jurisdiction. Governance has been conceived as the relationship between civil society and its

government in determining governmental action. Pertaining in rural areas of developing, the

capacity of its city government to act may be severely lacking in terms of being frequently ill-

prepared to assume responsibilities for policymaking, resource mobilization and program

implementation. Even in instances where local government capacity exists, the governance

relationship may be ineffective. The relationship between civil society and city government

consequently, is unidirectional; local government provides services to citizens, but citizens have

limited opportunity to influence local government and accordingly, the governance relation is yet

ineffective.

Trends in Public Service Management

In the field of public administration, the talk throughout the world is of change and ofthe

transformation of governments; new forms of governance, new relationships betweencitizens and

their governments, and between the public, private, and nongovernmentalsectors, and the new

processes of policy making.

In recent years, administrative change in the city of Puerto Pincesahasbecome sounreliable as

to implementation of policies due to the leadership disparities. Citizens in the city are awakened

what is happening in their environs. This awakeningis the greatest source of pressure for better

public policies, administrative reform and a“New Public Management.” In addition to revenue

generation, infrastructure, and publicservices, governments must respond to the consequences of

an aging population, to the mounting pressures to provide environmental management system,

and to care for theirneediest and least capable citizens, who are often becoming more visible and

whoserights are increasingly being advocated by nongovernmental organizations and

interestgroups. There were four themes quoted from Paul Light as follows:

 Cutting red tape including streamlining the budget process, decentralizing personnel

policy, reorienting the inspectors general, and empowering state and local governments.

 Putting customers first including demanding that service organizations compete and

using market mechanisms to solve problems.

 Empowering employees to get results including decentralized decision-making power,

forming a labor-management partnership, and exerting leadership.

 Cutting back to basicsincluding eliminating programs, investing in greaterproductivity,

and re-engineering programs to cut costs.

 Performance Partnershipswherein the recognized benefits include consolidated funding

streams, devolved decision-making, and reduced paperwork, with the implied reward of

additional funding and otherunspecified benefits, financed by the increased efficiency.

Policy Options
 The findings of the research indicate that affected sector’s perception about policy

effectiveness is guided by city government policy at the local level. It was also found that

immediate coping options were perceived by households, business firms and stakeholders as

more effective policy measures than long-term adaption strategies. The perception of (climate)

risk is highly dependent on the social, cultural and economic conditions within which citizens of

the community experience the risk and perception influences their behavior. This research was

based on the argument that the selection of policy measures are determined by the nature of the

problem/hazard and local geophysical characteristics. A modified framework was used to

analyze the effectiveness of affected sectors in the city’s perception and experiences. The

discussion was led by a key question: How do the respondents perceive the effectiveness of

policy implementation at the local level?The link to this policy helped investors coming in to the

city and increase the city’s income. Other environmental policies like green community, solid

waste management and examined of air combustible were tangible interventions by the

government and were perceived by stakeholders to be effective coping strategies.

Conclusion and Recommendations

 The city government support helped the community to deal with immediate well

environmental sewage management system, but the same support increased dependency. This

increased dependency on government policy and programs during implementation is also

reported where vulnerable people’s dependency on government support increased after the

austere pollution and health condition. In order to encourage people to respond in a responsible

manner, research emphasized that people need to understand how climate change may place

them at greater risk, and people should play a larger role in designing response strategies. A low

level of awareness about climate change increases dependency on government policy and thus,

influences community perception about the effectiveness of policy implementation at the local

level.

Endnotes
 This policy paper was supported by the city government of Puerto Princesa particularly

the Sangguniang Panglungsod who undoubtedly shared the copy of ordinance. The student

acknowledges the support and valuable inputs of her mother, Ms. Remie L. Mostiero and father,

Insp. Samuel C. Mostiero. Special thanks to Patt and Schröter2008, Scheumann and

Kraume2009; Vaidya 2009, Burton et al. 2001, Yang et al. 2016, Patt and Schröter2008 editors

and translators for their inputs. Support and cooperation of the local community, stakeholders

and field support from friends are greatly appreciated.

Bibliography
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International Journal of Disaster Risk Science: March 2017, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp 64–77 |

Cite as Analyzing the Effectiveness of Policy Implementation at the Local Level

Matland, R.E. 1995. Synthesizing the implementation literature: The ambiguity-conflict

model of policy implementation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

Patt, A.G., and D. Schröter. 2008. Perceptions of climate risk in Mozambique: Implications

for the success of adaptation strategies. Global Environmental Change 18(3): 458–

467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Scheumann, R., and M. Kraume. 2009. Influence of different HRT for the operation of a

submerged membrane sequencing batch reactor (SM-SBR) for the treatment of greywater.

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Appendices

Appendix 1 Ordinance No. 37: Sewage Management Ordinance

Appendix 1
 ORDINANCE NO. 737

SEPTAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ORDINANCE

SCOPE AND COVERAGE

This Ordinance shall apply to all buildings, facilities and structures whether public or private,

residential or commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, proposed/planned, or any

activity/endeavor that shall use water and produce wastewater with permanent or prolonged

effects to the environment within the territorial jurisdiction of Puerto Princesa City.

DECLARATION OF POLICY

In consonance with the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 that pursues a policy of economic

growth in a manner consistent with the protection, preservation and revival of the quality of our

water.

Section 17 of PD 856 – Code on Sanitation of the Philippines

Local Government Code (RA 7160)

Water District Law (PD 198) – The City Government of Puerto Princesa is committed to

enhance health, environment and the economic condition of the City to require households,

public and commercial establishment to have proper.

Any use of water and its discharge of any wastewater that no “Spent Water” shall be

reintroduced to the environment without any proper treatment, and that as a matter of policy, the

use of any water shall be held responsible to treat the same.

General Designs and Construction Requirement of Septic Tanks and Sewage Systems

Construction of New Buildings or Structures

No building plan for residential dwelling units or commercial and institutional structures shall be

approved unless the design of the sanitary plumbing and septic tank conforms to the

specifications provided under Section 10 of this Ordinance and other pertinent regulations.

It shall be the duty of the owner, administrator or contractor to inform the concerned agency that

the newly constructed septic tank, sewage treatment system, with prior approval are ready for

inspection. The new system shall not be covered or used until inspected and approved by the

City Engineer’s Office.

Communal Systems

Communal Septic Tanks shall follow the specifications as to the location, design and

construction requirement as provided under Section 9 of this Ordinance.

Communal effluent systems shall be under the guidelines provided for by the DENR.

Communal septic tanks shall be required in housing areas where the individual lot area is less

than fifty (50) square meters.

ISSUANCE OF NON-CONFORMITY

The CSMC shall issue a notice to owners or administrators who do not have a septic tank, or

with a design below standards or inaccessible for dislodging with the absence of an alternative

system approved by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office.

PENALTIES

The violator or owner of non-complying establishment who fails to comply within one (1) year

shall be penalized as set herein:

Private Residential Buildings:

First Offense - P 500.00

Second Offense - P 1,000.00

Third Offense - P 1,500.00

Hotels, Apartments, Banks, Offices, Shops and other commercial establishments:

First Offense - P 1,000.00

Second Offense - P 2,000.00

Third Offense - P 3,000.00