By Mary Grace Peralta
BARANGAY Felisa -- There is always beauty to be found in darkness. The "Happy Barangay" is located at the center of development in Bacolod City an emerging industrial area that comprises 854,789 hectares of land. Barangay Felisa is the allocated area for the Bacolod City sanitary landfill (SLF). The barangay has moved fast-paced and pushing itself to a whole new level and has recently been chosen to be the proposed area for Bacolod City Employees Housing program and for Bacolod City Government Hospital.
To those who haven’t heard about the Republic Act (RA) 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the act encourages people to segregate at source in the collection of solid waste. Segregation is supposedly conducted at the barangay level specifically for biodegradable, compostable, and reusable wastes. Landfills on the other hand are where all the residual waste, hospital, construction debris, asbestos materials, broken glass, bottles, chemicals, hazardous waste, lubricant, oil waste are brought.
The Sanitary Landfill
The SLF in Felisa is surrounded by sugarcane fields and a mountain of garbage seen from afar with worn-out, smelly dump trucks carrying all the toxins and garbage of the society. Distinctly not segregated, lining up in a non cemented bumpy dusty, uneven road to reach the SLF site.
Surprisingly, the domesticated dogs and strays of the SLF residents and scavengers within the area are not malnourished; they are well-rounded and are well-freed. They are not aggressive, very friendly and are on mellow behaviors. However, their skin is very much affected probably due to toxins associated with exposure to contaminated air and certain bacteria in composting materials at the site that caused dermal problems for the animals.
Mange is one of the dermal problems, a skin disorder caused by tiny parasites called mites and it spreads easily among dogs. It can be transmitted to people however it doesn't last longer to humans. The symptoms are intense itching, red skin, sores, and hair loss.
Dogs rambling at the site to scavenge on food may result in bites that cause rabies and rodents that may also spread diseases. Blood infection from direct contact with toxins due to stray or wild animals feeding on waste dogs eating from a garbage can cause garbage toxicosis or garbage gut, known as hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, or food poisoning.
The Bacolod City mass rabies vaccination is done every year by Bacolod City Veterinarian Office. Barangay Handumanan and Barangay Felisa are a few of the major locations for the activities.
The Residents
Barangay Felisa's biggest asset is its people, despite the rural residents' situation such as houses made of used planked woods and recycled materials derived from construction debris at the landfill and the lack of direct access to clean water despite donated water well in rarely seen locations, they treat their domesticated pets and strays with kindness and compassion.
They have family and kids in the area that do all their laundry with only two pails of water. Children barely bathe due to water shortage besides their insufficiency of food supplies. Community pantries do not reach the rural areas and infrequent local transportation getting inside the site. Temporary bamboo bridges are made of five or seven slender bamboo sticks tied up without hand railings that can cause accidents, especially during the rainy season.
The Bigger Hazard
It gets worst because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The area is now more prone to biological hazards associated with waste and disposed of toxins from city establishments, which includes water-borne diseases resulting from flies and mosquitoes breeding at the dumping site that is a potential hazard to both humans and animals.
Despite all the challenges faced in the SLF, there is always beauty to be found in darkness.