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Thursday, February 12, 2004
Mayor told: Close dumpsite
By Liberty A. Pinili
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE Environmental Management Board (EMB) 7 is reminding Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza to close an open garbage dumpsite in Sitio Soong, Barangay Mactan.
The EMB 7 told the mayor that open dumping sites are supposed to be closed by next year under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000.
EMB Regional Director Bienvenido Lipayon, in a letter to Radaza dated Feb. 11, pointed out that the National Solid Waste Management Commission, led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Interior and Local Government, has warned that government officials can be sanctioned if they fail to implement the law.
Creation
Lipayon also cited the creation of the environmental ombudsman, which is tasked to investigate local and national government officials who fail or refuse to enforce environmental laws.
The EMB 7 is recommending to the City Government that the open dump be converted into a controlled dumpsite.
Lipayon also advised City Hall to make an initial hydro-geological assessment of an area that will serve as controlled dumpsite.
The controlled dumpsite must not be near any body of water or water source.
Consideration
Other considerations for the construction of a controlled dumpsite: soil cover for garbage; drainage control; record keeping; controlled waste picking and trading of recyclable materials; and post closure site cover and vegetation.
Lipayon said the EMB is ready to provide technical assistance to local government units in finding a suitable site for controlled dumpsites and sanitary landfills.
He said a parcel of land in Barangay Basak that is being eyed by the City Government as a landfill site needs to be studied by the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau for suitability.
RA 9003 requires local government units to close all open dumps and convert these into controlled dumping sites by January 2005.
Controlled dumping sites, on the other hand, have to be converted into sanitary landfills by 2007.
(February 12, 2004 issue)
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