Mayor: Manuali site is not a dumpsite

PORAC— Mayor Condralito dela Cruz clarified Monday that the alleged Manuali dumpsite here is a transfer facility and not a dumpsite, as alleged by a photo sent by one Sonny Dobles.

The same photo was published by this paper over the weekend.

“The area is where we place the garbage for transfer to either our Material Recovery Facility or for disposal to landfills. We do not just take the garbage out of the town and dispose it outright. We comply with the directive of our Gov. Lilia Pineda to have garbage segregated and disposed properly,” Dela Cruz told Sun.Star Pampanga in an exclusive interview.

Dela Cruz said his administration has started the implementation of a segregation policy for the collection of garbage.

However, he said there still a need to segregate garbage in barangays which have yet to fully comply with the directive.

Governor Lilia Pineda, he said, has been very strict in reminding officials here to comply with environmental laws and to set up material recovery facilities that will help in the segregation of garbage.

The mayor added that waste in the alleged dumpsite is residual waste awaiting proper disposal in designated landfills.

It could be remembered that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has ordered the closure of all open dumpsites in Pampanga and Central Luzon.

The EMB included towns of Arayat, Floridablanca, Guagua, Mabalacat, Macabebe, Magalang, Masantol, Mexico, Minalin, Porac, San Luis, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana and Sto. Tomas to comply with the order.

As mandated by Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2001, all open and controlled dumpsites should be closed immediately.

The law also requires all local government units to create an MRF and assist in the segregation of waste starting from the household level.