PSA report bares poor human-waste disposal practice in parts of Metro Manila, Calabarzon areas

Despite rapid urbanization, regions such as Metro Manila and Calabarzon still have areas where open defecation occurs, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the results of the 2020 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS), while Metro Manila and Calabarzon have the least number of cases of open defecation, there are still less than 25 cases recorded in these regions.

PSA said open defecation refers to the disposal of human feces in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water, beaches or other open spaces, or with solid waste.

“Urban [80.9 percent] and rural [79.9 percent] areas had almost similar proportions of families with access to basic sanitation facilities,” PSA added.

“The number of rural residents with families practicing open defecation [5.6 percent] is higher than that of urban residents [1.6 percent],” PSA  added.

Overall, based on the APIS, of the 25.848 million families nationwide, around 3.3 percent still endure open defecation.

The highest incidence nationwide is recorded in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) where 19.6 percent of the 683,000 families who still resort to open defecation.

This is followed by Western Visayas where 11.1 percent of the 1.907 million families in the region still do not have proper sanitation facilities inducing them to resort to open defecation.

Meanwhile, data also showed that basic sanitation facilities in Metro Manila are enjoyed by 79 percent of the 3.449 million families in the region in 2020. This is less than the 79.8 percent recorded in the 2019 APIS.

Data also showed that limited sanitation facilities, covered 19.4 percent and unimproved sanitation facilities at 1.5 percent. In 2019, while limited sanitation was at 14.9 percent and unimproved facilities at 4.9 percent.

For Calabarzon, basic sanitation facilities covered 87.4 percent of the 3.97 million families in the region. This is lower than the 88.7 percent recorded in 2019.

In terms of limited sanitation facilities, this covered 10.9 percent and unimproved sanitation facilities at 1 percent. In 2019, limited sanitation was at 8.4 percent while unimproved facilities, 1.7 percent.

The PSA said improved sanitation facilities are those designed to hygienically separate excreta from human contact. These include wet and dry sanitation technologies.

Wet sanitation technologies include flush and pour flush toilets connecting to sewers, septic tanks or pit latrines while dry technologies include ventilated improved pit latrines; pit latrines with slabs; or composting toilets.

Basic sanitation facilities include the use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households, while limited facilities mean the use of improved facilities shared between two or more households.

PSA said unimproved sanitation facilities means using pit latrines without a slab or platform, hanging latrines or bucket latrines.