Business sector backs Lucena City’s renewed anti-plastic push

By Rowena T. Cruz Mayor Mark Alcala and PCCI-QPI officials display the signed MOU supporting stronger enforcement of Lucena City’s singl...

By Rowena T. Cruz

Mayor Mark Alcala and PCCI-QPI officials display the signed MOU supporting stronger enforcement of Lucena City’s single-use plastic restrictions. (Lucena City PIO)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon — When PCCI-QPI President Realou Nieto joined Mayor Mark Alcala in signing Lucena City’s anti-plastic agreement on Aug. 27, the local business community took a more direct role in a campaign anchored on an ordinance enacted in 2009. The memorandum of understanding links City Hall with establishments that handle disposable plastics daily as the city moves to strengthen implementation of City Ordinance No. 2367, series of 2009.

The agreement gives the city government and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Quezon Province Inc. a shared framework for reinforcing restrictions on single-use plastics. Rather than adding another regulation, the partnership turns attention to improving compliance with rules that have already been in place for more than a decade.



That responsibility becomes most visible at store counters, restaurants and other points of sale where plastic bags, packaging and disposable materials enter everyday use. Working through PCCI-QPI gives the city a direct link to businesses whose daily practices can determine how consistently the ordinance reaches consumers.

Alcala placed cooperation with businesses at the center of the renewed campaign, emphasizing that enforcement alone cannot reduce the everyday use of disposable plastics. The partnership with PCCI-QPI broadens responsibility for the ordinance by drawing commercial establishments into the city’s environmental effort.

“Hindi sapat na mayroon tayong ordinansa kung hindi naman ito naipatutupad at nasusunod sa araw-araw. Sa pakikipagtulungan ng ating business sector, mas mapapalakas natin ang pagbabawas ng single-use plastics at mapapanatili nating mas malinis at sustainable ang Lucena City,” Alcala said.

Alcala signed the MOU with Nieto, City Administrator Anacleto Alcala Jr. and Engr. Recaredo Sarmiento IV, PCCI-QPI’s immediate past president and board director. Their signatures formalized cooperation between City Hall and the chamber in strengthening implementation of the existing restrictions.

The MOU calls for coordinated efforts to reduce the use and distribution of single-use plastics while improving compliance with Ordinance No. 2367. It gives organized businesses a clearer role in an environmental measure that depends on both government enforcement and changes in everyday commercial practices.

Both sides also signed a pledge of commitment supporting the city’s goal of becoming safer, greener and more sustainable. The pledge broadens the campaign beyond City Hall by placing businesses and consumers within the same effort to reduce dependence on disposable plastics.