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Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuba folk barricade Irisan dumpsite
BAGUIO CITY -- Residents of Irisan living near the dumpsite and the neighboring barangay of Tadiangan in Tuba, Benguet barricaded the entry to the dumpsite Tuesday morning.
They vowed to stay unless the City Government commits never to dump its garbage there again.
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Barangay Tadiangan councilman Mike Bonnol, leader of the group that held the barricade, said they are fed up with empty promises from officials of Baguio, particularly the assurance that the dumpsite will be closed and relocated.
They also feared that the mountain of garbage will collapse anytime because of the rains.
Bonnol doubted if the retaining wall will be able to hold the volume of garbage dumped at the Irisan open dumpsite everyday.
Tadiangan is located below the dumpsite.
"It's even worse now," Bonnol said as the slightest rain, washes away some garbage toward their barangay.
Bonnol added that soil, which is used to cover garbage, adds weight that might even cause the mountain of trash to collapse.
Since 1989, residents of Tadiangan already asked officials of Baguio to relocate the dumpsite.
Former mayor Fernando Paraan committed to close the dumpsite.
Several mayors took over the reigns of the City Government since then, yet dumping continues, Bonnol lamented.
He added that leacheate or fluid that emanates from the decomposing garbage would contaminate their sources of water.
Although the city is working on the dumpsite's closure and rehabilitation and negotiations are now being done with higher officials for the purchase of an area for a sanitary landfill, Bonnol said they have waited so long and it is time for the city to do something concrete.
He said Baguio's claim that 70 percent of the dumpsite is closed is false.
He said that physically, the dumpsite remains to be a receptacle of mixed waste, instead of waste that is previously segregated at the source.
"They (Baguio officials) never acted on it. We passed several resolutions, yet nothing has been done," Bonnol said.
The group also asked Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. to personally visit the area.
In a text message, Bautista said the city was not remiss in doing its obligation.
His signing of Administrative Order (AO) 92, which bans the dumping of residual waste beginning July 31, is proof that the city is acting on the clamor of neighboring towns.
The problem however is that neighboring towns remained hesitant in the plans of the city to buy land and operate a sanitary landfill in their locality.
For the meantime, the mayor said he already gave instructions to the City Environment and Parks Management Office (Cepmo) to dig a temporary dumping area at the City Camp lagoon, which will be used for about two months.
A retaining wall will also be built at Irisan.
Mayor Bautista said this should extend use of the dumpsite until 2009.
Bonnol meanwhile appealed to the media to continue with its information drive on waste segregation to educate the public on proper waste classification.
Waste segregation, he said, would contribute to the reduction of waste at the Irisan dumpsite. (Rimaliza Opiña of Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (July 16, 2008 issue)
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