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Inauguration of the Smokey Mountain Resource Recovery Facility

Remarks
by
Tom Crouch
Country Director
Philippines Country Office
Asian Development Bank

11 May 2007

Magandang umaga po.

Ambassador Stale Risa of Norway, Ambassador Peter Sutter of Switzerland, Honorable Hugh Faulkner of Sustainable Project Management, Attorney Zoilo Andin Jr., Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, Ms. Anita Celdran, Program Director of SPM Philippines, colleagues from the ADB and other development partners, ladies and gentlemen from the Smokey Mountain community led by Fr. Mike. And a special mention for the Smokey Mountain children's choir and their choirmaster. Until now I would have rated my day as pretty good; it is now above excellent after hearing the choir sing of its hopes for the future. And isn't this why we are here? We must be good guardians of the environment for our children; and it is they with whom we will entrust the future of this community and the Philippines.

We gather to mark an auspicious event today as we witness the inauguration of the first "green" material recovery facility here in Smokey Mountain. The facility will provide livelihood opportunities in waste recycling and improve the community's health conditions.

The "before" and "after" realities of the Smokey Mountain community are dramatic, and in a very positive way.

• In earlier years, Smokey Mountain gained worldwide attention as the "face" of all the challenges confronting the Philippines regarding poverty and solid waste management. Then Metro Manila's Smokey Mountain was a gigantic, heaving, toxic, dangerous, garbage dumpsite, built over 40 years with 2 million tonnes of refuse, and supporting as many as 30,000 people.
• We now see its transformation, which is still underway: a showcase medium-rise housing community, environmentally sensitive handling of solid waste, livelihood opportunities, and empowerment of the community to take the decisions affecting their circumstances.

ADB is proud to be helping to make this dream a reality.

But jobs remain very scarce, and health risks abound with the community exposed to the remaining mountain of waste that rises immediately behind us. The facility that we inaugurate today will help residents earn income and reduce risks to their health with the "deconstruction" of Smokey Mountain by environmentally sound operating methods.

We acknowledge the assistance from the governments of Norway and Sweden, who financed the Poverty and Environment Fund (PEF), which is managed by ADB. We thank SPM for implementing the project, represented by Mr. Faulkner, their founder and president who flew in to be with us today.

Through PEF, this project is implemented under ADB's Poverty and Environment Program, a regional technical assistance that aims to reduce poverty through sound environmental management. We hope to make the facility a showcase that can be sustained and replicated. It is one of 2 PEP projects in the Philippines, and 16 that have been approved in total so far. These are all pilot projects, from which we will learn what works, and what doesn't. They will be scaled up to empower many more families and lift them from poverty.

We hope that you will not get tired of us visiting you here from time to time. We receive many requests for briefings and tours to this project from foreign dignitaries, environment and poverty experts, and ADB staff. For Smokey Mountain is no longer the "face of poverty" but the "face of a very successful community-led partnership for poverty reduction". Indeed, your community's name "Samahan ng Muling Pagkabuhay" fits you well: it translates to "The Community of Renewed Life".

Allow me to take two minutes to reflect on conversations I had just before we began this inauguration ceremony. I will refer to what I discussed with some of you as the "five Ps" - Partnerships, Projects, People, Participants, and aPPropriate technology.

Partnerships are very much a part of this enterprise. They include the funding agencies (Norway and Sweden), the international NGO (SPM), private businesses which have provided in-kind support, Government agencies which have facilitated the process, artisans, architects, ADB, and, most importantly, the Smokey Mountain Community.

Projects are things that ADB does most visibility in its engagement with the Philippines. Some of our projects involve a great deal of money. Others, like this one, involve very modest amounts. But large or small, they all focus on moving people out of poverty and encouraging their empowerment. Indeed, it is often the very smallest - in peso terms - of projects that have the most visible, most direct, and most immediate impact on participants' lives.

People must be at the centre of everything we do. In this case, it is the Smokey Mountain community. At the end of the day, we need to be sure that our efforts uplift people, with projects being a means to that end, not an end in themselves. As grand as the materials recovery facility is, it will not be worth the effort of it doesn't deliver on the promise of jobs, income, and a healthier environment.

The Smokey Mountain community is active as Participants in this activity. The community members are not passive beneficiaries (which was often how such stakeholders were characterized not so long ago).

Finally, from green architect Clifford Espinosa (who designed the Material Recovery Facility building), I learned the importance of avoiding being blinded by the new and the modern to the detriment of the old. What is much more important is whether it works and is appropriate for the task. The MRF is fashioned on very old Philippines building principles: it has no glass windows, no fans or air-conditioning, yet is cool because of the way it forces the air to circulate. It uses recycled materials exclusively. This is our final P - aPPropriate technology.

We have learned so much from you, the Smokey Mountain community.

I close with the vision statement for the ADB-Philippines partnership:

As a long-term development partner, living and working in Manila, ADB understands the challenges and shares the aspiration of a Philippines free of poverty. We are committed to working with all Filipinos to move more rapidly to this goal.

ADB thanks the Smokey Mountain community for the privilege of allowing us to work with you on this project.

Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat.