EcoWaste Coalition Urges Communities Celebrating the Feast of the Santo Niño to Rethink Use of Plastic Banderitas

12 January 2026, Quezon City. As communities like Pandacan and Tondo prepare for the feast of the Santo Niño this coming Sunday, the EcoWaste Coalition pleaded against the thoughtless use of plastic banderitas, also known as “lastay,” buntings, or flaglets to mark the festive occasion in honor of Child Jesus.

Based on the monitoring conducted by the group last Saturday, communities have begun to decorate their neighborhoods with garlands typically made of new plastic “labo,” newly-cut plastic strips, or plastic scraps.

“Banderitas made of disposable plastics have begun to sprout like mushrooms in the streets and alleys of Tondo and Pandacan as if communities are having a ‘pahabaan, padamihan, pabonggahan’ contest,” observed Ochie Tolentino, Zero Waste Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.

Tondo is home to Santo Niño de Tondo, and Pandacan is home to Santo Niño de Pandacan.

“If there was a ‘war’ of plastic tarpaulins during the last mid-term elections, we can expect a similar ‘battle’ of plastic banderitas in these communities as if the City of Manila is not facing a huge garbage problem,” Tolentino said.

The group likened fiesta banderitas to “litter in the sky,” which, sooner or later, will end up being disposed of and dumped in the New San Mateo Sanitary Landfill in Rizal Province, along with other types of waste.

“We therefore appeal to all parish and barangay officials to use their authority to dissuade the faithful from the non-essential and wasteful practice of hanging single-use plastic banderitas,” Tolentino said.

“This practice goes against the efforts to stop plastic waste from poisoning our ecosystems and our bodies. Every piece of disposable banderitas is a step backward from the zero waste and toxics-free future we aspire to.”

Single-use disposable banderitas, according to the EcoWaste Coalition, have no aesthetic, practical, or spiritual significance at all, and only add to the preventable fiesta garbage generated by the neighborhoods.

“Cleanup crews just collected truckloads of Traslacion trash in Luneta and Quiapo, and they are now bracing up for the Santo Niño fiesta garbage challenge,” said Tolentino.

The non-use of single-use plastic fiesta banderitas will “support efforts to eradicate plastic pollution,” one of the six ecological actions that the 128th Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) held in 2024 adopted to pursue.

The bishops in 2019 also issued a pastoral letter on ecology entitled “An Urgent Call for Ecological Conversion, Hope in the Face of Climate Emergency,” which affirmed the commitment of the church to live the spirit and principles of Laudato Si, the encyclical of Pope Francis on care for the natural environment and the people.

Meanwhile, the EcoWaste Coalition expressed its hope that “Hayuma: Mending the Broken” –- a church-led convergence on ecology, governance, and economy to be held on January 14-16, 2026 at the University of Santo Tomas --- will strongly reaffirm the need for ecological conversion and amplify calls for a zero waste and toxics-free environment for all.

"It's time for the church and society to go zero waste!" the EcoWaste said.