BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan reported the upcoming conduct of a comprehensive study by the State-owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) on the most feasible technology for the proper disposal of the generated garbage in the city to help convince the municipal officials of Itogon, Benguet to allow the put up of a state-of-the-art integrated waste disposal facility that will cater to the garbage disposal needs of the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area.
The local chief executive admitted having initially talked to Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan on the 29.11 hectares ceded by Benguet Corporation (BC) to the local government but the latter claimed that the area was heavily devastated by the Supertyphoon Ompong and Tropical Storm Rosita last year.
However, Domogan said the issue raised by Mayor Palangdan against the area being eyed by the local government as the permanent site of its integrated solid waste disposal facility is a technical issue that needs to be validated and assessed by the technical people of concerned government agencies, the involved local governments and the mining company.
“We admit one of the challenges confronting the local government in finding a definitive solution to our garbage disposal problem is the identification of the permanent site to put up the proposed integrated solid waste disposal facility. We believe the area ceded to the local government by Benguet Corporation is the most feasible site as per the previous assessment of the technical staff of relevant government agencies, the city government and the mining company, thus, we have to validate the situation in the area after the previous weather disturbances that visited our area to determine if the proposed site was really devastated by the typhoons and this assessment should be done by our technical people,” Domogan stressed.
He explained the local government will enter into an agreement with the PNOC for the latter to conduct the needed study on the most feasible technology that could be used in addressing the garbage disposal of the city and the results of the study will be used to convince Itogon municipal officials in supporting the put up of the state-of-the-art solid waste disposal sites that will not greatly affect the state of the environment in the area.
According to him, one of the priority concerns of the local government is the identification of the permanent site of its solid waste disposal facility to put an end to the hauling of the city’s residual waste outside the city which eats up a huge portion of the city resources for the hauling cost and the tipping fees.
He emphasized the major hindrance being encountered by the local government in coming up with a permanent solution to its solid waste disposal problem is the absence of a suitable area for the said proposed facility considering the stringent requirements being imposed by the regulating agencies on the put up of solid waste disposal sites so that it will have a lesser impact to the state of the environment and the health of the people living in the nearby communities.
Domogan asserted that the proposed integrated disposal site in Itogon will not only be used by Baguio but also the other neighboring towns of Benguet that have similar garbage disposal woes.
By Dexter A. See
