Sec Dizon kaya mo pa yan.

A Nation Drowning in Its Own Waste

- Dr. Tony Leachon 

The photo says it all — a river suffocated by garbage, a mirror of a country gasping under the weight of neglect.

When Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon called it a “garbage crisis,” he wasn’t just talking about trash. He was describing the rot of leadership itself.

We face not one, but four crises — each feeding the other:

• Leadership crisis — where vision is replaced by vanity.

• Governance crisis — where systems fail and accountability disappears.

• Flood control crisis — where billions are spent, yet cities drown.

• Healthcare crisis — where PhilHealth collapses and hospitals beg for survival.

This is not just environmental decay — it’s moral decay.

Every plastic bottle floating in that river is a symbol of promises broken, budgets misused, and futures discarded.

We are not short of engineers, doctors, or thinkers.

We are short of leaders who care — leaders who see governance not as power, but as stewardship.

Until we clean our conscience, we will never clean our rivers.

#GarbageCrisis #LeadershipFailure #GovernanceMatters #HealthWithHonor #Philippines2026

Tony Leachon