Saturday, May 05, 2007 Talisay to get neighbor’s trash By Garry Cabotaje Sun.Star Staff Reporter
MINGLANILLA town may now dump its garbage for a fee at the Talisay City sanitary landfill, after the City Council passed the resolution allowing them to do so.
The approval came while three opposition councilors were absent during last Thursday’s session and despite the facility’s lack of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).
Last April 19, the council had to defer for two weeks the measure, authored by Councilor Bernard Joseph Odilao, when opposition Councilor Alan Bucao objected to its approval.
Bucao pointed out that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 has yet to issue an ECC for the City-run sanitary landfill.
Bucao has argued that the passage of Odilao’s resolution, which authorizes Mayor Socrates Fernandez to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Minglanilla, could be considered null and void.
In his news conference last Thursday, Bucao vowed to question the MOA, once Fernandez signs it, before the DENR 7. The legislator said that Fernandez must think twice before signing the newly approved measure.
Get ECC first
Bucao reiterated that City Hall must secure the ECC before entering into a MOA with Minglanilla and other local government units (LGUs) in Cebu’s first district.
But the City still needs to have the property covering the landfill titled under its name, so it can secure the ECC for the facility.
In his proposal, Odilao set a dumping fee of P600 per truck at the landfill site, which began operating in December 2005 in compliance with Republic Act 9003, the Solid Waste Management Act.
The law outlaws open dumpsites and mandates all LGUs to establish their own sanitary landfill.
Bucao also opposed the plan allowing all the LGUs in Cebu’s first district to dump their garbage for a fee in Talisay City.
“Why choose Talisay as their dumping ground when it is the smallest LGU in the first district in terms of land area?” he said.
If that pushes through, Bucao expressed fear that the City’s groundwater, which supplies about 30 to 40 percent of potable water in Metro Cebu, would get contaminated.
The landfill is located in Tapul, a neighboring hilly barangay of Jaclupan, near the Mananga River where the Metro Cebu Water District has set up its dam. (GC)
