AS IT is allegedly being utilized as an open dumpsite of garbage coming from San Enrique town, Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Antonio Peña closed down a private property in Barangay Palaka Sur in early August 2022.
Peña issued a cease and desist order (CDO) saying that the property owner violated Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
The Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (Menro) of Pulupandan conducted an ocular inspection of the area and confirmed the report that it is indeed being utilized as a dump site.
Menro officials led by its officer-in-charge and sanitary inspector, Mila Lourdes Tandoy, together with Environment Monitoring Officer of the Environmental Management Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR) Shellamite Labrador conducted an ocular inspection at a property in the barangay along the Negros South Highway on September 1, 2022.
According to the Menro, they inspected the area after receiving reports from residents claiming they have spotted dump trucks entering the property carrying garbage and exiting empty.
Barangay Palaka Sur Captain Alen Rodrigo said he received a complaint from Sonia Galimba claiming numerous plastic bags littered her farmlands after being blown by the winds.
Rodrigo said Galimba tried to confront the owner of the said property identified as a certain Novo Torres, but she claimed that they were not accommodated.
When members of the Menro team finally conducted the ocular inspection, they discovered that the alleged provincial government-owned trucks were dumping garbage inside the property.
Tandoy said in her report that one of the trucks was even dumping "what appeared to be medical waste" inside the alleged illegal dumpsite.
She also noted that the dumpsite had been operating for several months now and one of the drivers they talked to claimed that they were also dumping garbage coming from other municipalities.
Peña also ordered the town's local police and officials of Barangay Palaka Sur to enforce his CDO which would prohibit both the entry and removal of the garbage inside the property pending further investigation.
Once the investigation is completed, the Municipal Government of Pulupandan is willing to assist the Municipal Government of San Enrique to haul their garbage back to their town, he said.
“The mayor instructed us to just return (garbage) to the sender,” Tandoy said.