BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan requested the hauler of the city’s residual waste from its transfer station in Lamtang, Puguis, La Trinidad to already relocate its existing waste transfer station to his property to avoid complaints from residents on the alleged nuisance that it poses to them.
The city chief executive said the local government should not have been included in the case filed by residents against MA Camilo Freight Services because it is the primary obligation of the hauler to provide his own transfer station prior to the hauling of the residual waste to the Capas landfill.
“We were informed that Camilo has a 4,500-square meter property in the same barangay which was set for inspection by the technical personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources if it passes the guidelines for a waste transfer station so that he can relocate the questioned transfer station to the said place and avoid complaints from residents,” Domogan stressed.
One of the terms of reference when the local government bid out the hauling of the city’s residual waste to the Capas landfill was that the hauler must have his own transfer station compliant with the stringent rules of the DENR.
Despite the prayer for the issuance of the required temporary restraining order to stop the utilization of the Lamtang waste transfer station by the hauler, a local court failed to issue the prayed restraining order and instead set the hearing on the case on June 27.
Domogan suggested that what the hauler could do is to bargain with the La Trinidad municipal government to give him time to relocate the questioned Lamtang waste transfer station to an area that has passed the requirements of the agency.
The city’s garbage trucks bring the collected waste from the barangays to the waste transfer station where the same shall be sorted and the residual waste is the one hauled to the Capas landfill.
Domogan admitted the closure of the waste transfer station without the identification of a new transfer site will be detrimental to the city’s garbage disposal, thus, the need for the hauler to make the appropriate representations with the concerned government agencies and the La Trinidad municipal government to find solutions to the existing concern.
He explained that the Lamtang waste transfer station was able to pass the standards of the DENR for the purpose that it will serve that is why he is wondering why residents continue to protest the existence of activities within the station that create nuisance in their neighbourhood.
Aside from the 4,500-square meter property, the mayor urged the management of Camilo Freight Services to continue looking for other areas which could be used for the purpose so that he will have other alternatives in the future once his property will not be able to pass the standards of the DENR during the inspection that will be scheduled to ascertain its viability as a potential waste transfer station.
Camilo was able to qualify as the city’s hauler of the residual waste generated by the households primarily because he was the one that was able to present a waste transfer station that was approved by the DENR.
By Dexter A. See
