Monday, December 03, 2007 Talisay awaits DENR clearance
THE Talisay City Government is waiting for a clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on whether the private lots in the landfill site are alienable and disposable, Mayor Socrates Fernandez said yesterday.
Fernandez said City Hall will pay the three private lot owners once it gets verification from the DENR 7.
“This area is timberland or forest reserve. We must find out first if it’s alienable or disposable. The City is obliged to pay them,” he said.
The sanitary landfill in the hilly village of Tapul encroaches into the three titled lots that have not been paid for by the City Government.
The Tapul dumpsite was opened in December 2005 in compliance with Republic Act 9003, the Solid Waste Management Act that outlaws all open dumpsites on Feb. 16, 2004.
However, the lack of a deed of absolute sale from these lot owners has become a stumbling block for the City Hall to get an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) from the DENR 7.
Fine
For operating without an ECC, the DENR ordered Talisay to pay a fine of P50,000.
This prompted Fernandez to file an appeal, asking the agency to exempt Talisay from paying the fine because the facility has still to complete its development requirements.
Meanwhile, the mayor clarified that the property of the Larita clan is not part of the sanitary landfill site, saying it is even five kilometers away from the facility.
Fernandez said that an existing road in Sitio Antipolo, in the neighboring upland barangay of Linao, only cuts across the clan’s property.
The area has been used as an access road for garbage trucks in going to the landfill site.
Damage suit
The heirs have filed a P3-million damage suit against Fernandez, the City Government and the Department of Public Works and Highways for allegedly using a portion of their property without paying them.
At least 1,056 square meters of the lot were affected by the construction of a road improvement in Upper Linao, but until now the heirs have not received any just compensation from the government, said Emman Larita, the clan spokesperson.
The heirs’ grandfather and uncle, the late spouses Benigno and Cornelia Briones and Ramon Rita, owned the property, he said.
Last April, they set up a blockade in the area, rendering the road impassable to garbage trucks and other vehicles.
The next day, the protesting heirs tore down the wooden barricade upon the advice of former city legal officer Paterno Belciña not to take the law into their hands and to seek formal legal remedies instead in court. (GC)
