BAGUIO CITY – The representative of the hauler of the city’s residual waste to a sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac disclosed that the trucking and freight services has already identified two possible sites where to transfer its staging area in Lamtang, Puguis, La Trinidad, Benguet after it will be closed by December 22, 2017 pursuant to a compromise agreement executed before a local court in La Trinidad.
Engr. Ruben Thirst, representative of MA Camilo Trucking and Freight Services, informed members of the local legislative body that the two sites where it plans to transfer its staging area of the residual waste are located in barangay Taloy Sur, Tuba, Benguet wherein the said areas are the properties of the company owner.
He said the company is currently processing the issuance of the required barangay clearance for one of the properties which is one of the major requirements for the issuance of the required certificate of non-coverage or the environmental compliance certificate by the Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR|) so that the company could also process its business permit with the Tuba municipal government.
The company official claimed their regular operations will not be actually affected by the planned closure of a portion of Pico-Lamtang road by a certain Dwight Nicholas Bello who claims that the road had encroached some 177 square meters of his property by October 1, 2017, saying that they plan to improve the road-right-of-way of the road to be used by their veh8icles in transporting the city’s residual waste outside the city from its existing transfer station.
Thirst committed that the company is capable of making its proposed transfer station in Tuba town before the scheduled deadline pursuant to the compromise agreement on December 22, 2017 because there is no pressing problem on the identified sites for its transfer station.
Earlier, the company and petitioners for the issuance of a temporary environment protection order (TEPO) entered into a compromise agreement before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Benguet that the hauler can operate its La Trinidad-based transfer station until December 22, 2017 after which, it must close the operation of the same because of the alleged hazards that it poses to the environment and health of the people living near the said station.
Initial, the company plans to develop some 3,000 square meters out of its 5,000-square meter property in Taloy Sur that will serve as the new transfer station prior to the closure of its transfer station in La Trinidad while another possible site will be on standby once the original site will not qualify pursuant to the standards of the regulating agencies.
The company representative claimed the appropriate design of the waste transfer station is already in place and that the clearances to be issued by the host barangay is being awaited before they will apply for the issuance of the appropriate permit from the concerned government agency in charge of monitoring the inspection of the new site.
MA Camilo Trucking and Freight Services has been the hauler of the city’s residual waste from its transfer station to the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac over the past several years considering that he is the only company that is able to provide for the transfer station prior to being hauled out of the city.
By Dexter A. See
