BAGUIO CITY– The City General Services Office (GSO) is conducting an in-depth investigation to ascertain the veracity of the alleged dumping of garbage that was not well segregated by still unidentified personnel of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) at the city’s temporary transfer station along Marcos highway recently.
City General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan, who was one of the guests of the monthly City Hall Hour press briefing held at the Baguio City multipurpose hall Tuesday, said the results of the investigation will be submitted to Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan who will be the one to make the appropriate representation with the PMA leadership to address the issue that cropped up upon the complaint of concerned officials of Tuba municipality.
He narrated that he received a call from Tuba Mayor Ignacio Rivera regarding the obnoxious odor emanating from the city’s transfer station which allegedly caused inconvenience not only to the motorists passing along the highway but also to the residents living around the temporary transfer station.
When he went to check the veracity of the alleged complaint, the general services officer found out that there was a certain pile of garbage that was not well segregated which allegedly came from PMA that was dumped in the transfer station prompting him to take the necessary action to prevent further complaints from the people in the area.
“We do not want the issue to be blown out of contest that is why we still want to ascertain whether or not the garbage that was not well segregated which was unscrupulously dumped in our transfer station really came from PMA so that we will make the necessary recommendations to the local chief executive to take the matter up with the PMA leadership in the future,” Buyucan stressed.
He claimed that the PMA administration should have first coordinated with the local government its intention to dump garbage that was generated during its graduation rites in the city transfer station so that appropriate guidance should have been given to them, especially in the compliance of the segregation of waste at source to avoid the generation of foul odor from the waste that was not well segregated.
According to him, what was done was that the dumped garbage that was not well segregated was prioritized to be hauled out of the transfer station by the city’s designated hauler to address the complaints of the affected residents regarding the foul odor emanating from the transfer station.
He underscored that the city’s temporary transfer station was established primarily to cater to the residual waste which is the one being hauled out of the city by the hauler, thus, the need for residents to strictly adhere to the no segregation, no collection policy to help in minimizing the volume of waste being brought to the transfer station for the hauling out process.
Buyucan expressed optimism that individuals and institutions alike should comply with the said policy to maintain cleanliness around the city while the local government is still locating the permanent site for the establishment of its proposed integrated solid waste disposal facility that will put an end to the hauling of garbage outside the city.
By Dexter A. See
