MMDA ‘Marie Kondo’s’ Major Thoroughfares of Campaign Trash

After the campaign season where many politicians seem to have done a number all around Metro Manila, the government seem to have done a bit of ‘Marie Kondo-ing’.

This as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) collected a total of 168.84 tons of campaign trash a day after the midterm elections.

Some 21,700 pieces of election-related materials were collected in the metropolis a day after the May 13 midterm elections

A day after the elections, MMDA’s Metro Parkway Clearing Group (MPCG) said in its post clean-up report on May 14, that it has collected campaign materials of varying sizes equivalent to 23.42 tons and filled up seven dump trucks.

MPCG chief Francis Martinez said they confiscated 134,700 pieces, equivalent to 145 tons, of election-related materials in various areas in Metro Manila under the ‘Oplan Baklas’ operation before the elections.

The ‘Oplan Baklas’ campaign started on March 1 until the election day wherein campaign materials placed outside the designated areas of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) were removed.

“All in all, we have collected so far 168.84 tons of campaign trash this midterm elections,” said Martinez.

“Various groups in need of candidates’ tarpaulins to recycle them into bags, place mats, school supplies and other useful items can coordinate with us,” said Martinez.

MMDA spokesperson Celine Pialago told CARMUDI PHILIPPINES that during the 2016 national elections, the Oplan Baklas Team, to which MMDA is an integral part of, collected 206.61 tons of campaign materials (727.22 cubic meters).

The seized campaign materials, Pialago said, will be recycled and donated.

Cities of Manila, Quezon, Parañaque, and Makati produced the most number of campaign materials.