BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan underscored that the local government remains focused in finding a permanent solution to the city’s garbage problem to prevent a garbage crisis.
The local chief executive clarified earlier misconceptions that the local government continues to use the already closed Irisan open dumpsite for its garbage disposal activities, saying what has been installed in the area are the two Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines that process the generated biodegradable waste into compost being distributed to interested residents wanting to use the compost as fertilizer for their backyard vegetable and flower gardens.
He asserted that there has been no actual dumping of garbage in the Irisan dumpsite which had been the subject of a Permanent Environment Protection Order (PEPO) that is periodically monitored by the concerned government agencies reporting to the Court of Appeals (CA) to ensure compliance to the order.
Earlier, concerned residents of Tuba who are residing below the closed Irisan dumpsite complained of the alleged continuous dumping of waste by the local government in the said facility which had already been ordered closed through the PEPO.
Domogan claimed that the biodegradable waste being brought to the former open dumpsite is immediately being processed by the ERS machines installed in the area while the remaining portions of the former open dumpsite is undergoing regreening through the efforts of the concerned offices of the local government in coordination with the Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR).
Aside from locating suitable sites in the city, the mayor emphasized that the city government has started searching for available sites outside the city for the establishment of its integrated solid waste disposal facility.
Initially, the city identified a public land in Sablan for the establishment of the facility but this did not pass the standards of the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) and this was followed by the determination of suitable sites in Burgos and Rosario, La Union but the project was restrained by an existing provincial ordinance prohibiting local governments outside the province from dumping their garbage in any part of the province.
Currently, the local government is finalizing the terms and conditions of its proposed 25-year deed of usufruct with Benguet Corporation (BC) for the use of a 29.22-hectare portion of its Antamok pen pit site for the establishment of the city’s integrated solid waste disposal facility for free that will put an immediate end to the hauling of the city’s residual waste to an existing sanitary landfill located in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan.
By Dexter A. See
