TADIAN, Mountain Province – Members of the Provincial Solid Waste Management Board (PSWMB) of Mountain Province (MP) convened for the body’s regular meeting for the second quarter of 2024.
The meeting was held on the fourth floor of the Tadian Trading Center on June 13, 2024. It was presided over by Supervising Environmental Management Specialist Oscar T. Panilas by authority of Governor Bonifacio C. Lacwasan, Jr., the chair of the PSWMB, together with Mountain Province Environment and Natural Resources Office (ENRO) Officer-in-Charge Raul I Edan.
The board discussed some actions to help with the management of solid wastes in MP. including the following: thermal decomposition machine benchmarking in Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital, which is tentatively scheduled to be conducted on September 12, 2024, during the third quarter meeting of the board; establishment and construction of a cluster and engineered sanitary landfill; effective waste collection system, most especially for toxic and hazardous waste and also designating a Pollution Control Officer in every local government unit and providing training for them; water testing center and equipment to ensure that the sources of water are safe for drinking, cooking, and for other purposes; and training for recycling cellophanes and other plastic waste into various products for extra income and livelihood.
In relation to the sanitary landfills, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Provincial ENRO Officer-in-Charge Edna Lyn L. Silverio urged the municipal ENROs to closely coordinate with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in their respective municipality or to the ones closest to them.
As for the water testing, Edan informed the PSWMB that Governor Lacwasan had recently issued the Executive Order No. 20, s. 2024, which established the Water Quality Monitoring Unit of MP. Edan said that the establishment of this unit was in compliance with one of the indicators of the Seal of Good Local Governance.
Meanwhile, the MENROs of Barlig, Bauko, Bontoc, Natonin, and Tadian gave a brief presentation of their respective office’s accomplishments during the first and second quarter of 2024. By HENT