The restroom is a frequently used area in any public establishment. This statement, however, is inaccurate when applied to the Philippine setting. At present, majority of the public restrooms in Metro Manila are still not as clean as they should be. Every day, Filipinos either withhold their need to use or suffer from using a public toilet due to its unsanitary conditions. These soiled toilets are home to millions of microorganisms such as bacteria, germs, molds and other contaminants that make its users more susceptible to diarrhea, worms, pneumonia and other water-borne diseases.

 First and foremost, our public restrooms lack even the most basic of amenities. We can begin resolving this by abiding by the ASEAN Public Toilet Standard of 2016. It contains and further explains several common criteria that should be observed by all public toilets in the ASEAN region regardless of the norm and designs that a country has. It states that toilets need to be clean, hygienic, and complete with various amenities and facilities, located conveniently, well maintained and making use of proper waste management systems.

 In addition to that, they say that the facilities of a restroom show a country's cultural traditions while its maintenance can affect the public's perception towards a country's notion of hygiene. In terms of facilities, our public restrooms clearly have fallen behind when compared to other countries such as Japan who has high-tech toilets, France who has rear-washing bidets and self-cleaning toilets, and Finland who has toilets which have pay via text and timer system features, and United Kingdom and Amsterdam who have invented disappearing urinals. For its maintenance, the meticulousness Filipinos have when it comes to cleaning their household doesn't fully manifest in our existing public restrooms.

 A country’s public restroom is a vital component that can make or break not just the tourists’ experience but also its citizens’ way of living. The simple provision of tissue, toilet paper/ hand dryer, waste bin/ sanitary bin, soap, water and hand wash is just the beginning. Supplying public restrooms with the rest of the necessary and better facilities will ensure the quality, comfort, safety and proper waste management of public toilets in Metro Manila just as stated in the ASEAN Public Toilet Standard that we should have been implementing a long time ago.

Reference:

ASEAN Public Toilet Standard [PDF]. (2016). Retrieved March 28, 2018, from http://www.asean.org/storage/2012/05/ASEAN-Public-Toilet-Standard.pdf