CITING the health risks it may pose, City Hall and Barangay Inayawan officials want neighboring cities to immediately stop dumping septic waste at the Inayawan landfill.
In a barangay council resolution, Inayawan officials also asked the City Government to rehabilitate the landfill immediately, and to provide “a long-term solution that is well-planned, well-designed and well-executed, leading to its eventual closure.”
Barangay officials sought the help of City Hall in addressing problems at the facility to prevent further health and environmental problems in their community.
Inayawan Barangay Captain Rustico Ignacio lamented that even septic wastes from the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay are dumped in the landfill, which he said aggravates the health risks the facility poses.
In his news conference yesterday, Mayor Michael Rama said the landfill management and the Department of Public Services (DPS) should stop allowing private haulers of septic waste coming from other cities and towns to dump at the landfill.
“That should be stopped... I would like to make it clear that that is not allowed by my office. We won't allow any dubious arrangements like that, we will not tolerate it,” he said.
He said the facility will eventually have to be closed since it already exceeded its lifespan, but the City still has to identify an alternative site.
Extended
When the landfill became operational on Sept. 11, 1998, it was supposed to have a life span of only five to seven years and be closed thereafter. Without a possible relocation site, the City is banking on composting and recycling activities to reduce the 450 tons of garbage dumped at the landfill.
Meanwhile, environment advocacy group Philippine Earth Justice Center (PEJC) Inc.’s co-founder Gloria Estenzo-Ramos lamented the failure of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), to close open and controlled dumpsites, citing that these violate the Ecological Solid Waste Management law.
"Since when is DENR of the power, authority and duty to file cases against violators of our environment laws?" Ramos said.
"It is a mandatory, not a discretionary function. No wonder we are in this mess," she added.
Ramos was reacting to the reply of EMB 7 Director Alan Arranguez to a query raised by PEJC lawyer Dandel Rose Villacastin through a letter dated Aug. 11, 2010.
"Per EMB's website, there are still 38 open dumps and eight controlled dumps in operation in the barangays under the municipalities and cities of Cebu," said Villacastin.
"What has the EMB done to ensure the local government units are performing their mandates under RA 9003?" she added.
The same law states that within three years after its effectivity, every local government should convert its open dump into a controlled dump and that no controlled dump will be allowed to operate for more than five years.
In reply, through a letter dated Aug. 20, 2010, Arranguez said the agency has conducted an information dissemination campaign on the implementation of the law.
"Please be informed that since the approval of RA 9003, our office conducted lectures to orient the local chief executives on its provisions," said Arranguez, adding a series of workshops was conducted to teach local government units procedures to close dumpsites and how to prepare safe closure and rehabilitation plans.
Arranguez also said the regional office only conducts monitoring activities and formulates recommendations to the central office regarding dumpsites.
"We have no regulatory powers over these local executives, hence, we cannot really push them to comply like what we did with the private companies," he added.
SRP link
Meanwhile, Councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the City Council committee on budget and finance, said he will push for an investigation on the dumping of septic waste from other cities at the Inayawan Landfill.
He also expressed his support for the barangay resolution, saying that any odor and other environmental problems at the landfill would affect the marketability of the adjacent South Road Properties and the attractiveness of the projects of Filinvest Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc.
“We want it to be a controlled dumping site but eventually, we should close the facility. Hopefully, with waste segregation in the households and the material recovery facilities in the barangays, we can lessen the garbage at the landfill. For now, murag dili pa nato ma-close,” he said.
Engineer Randy Navarro, the landfill manager, confirmed there are 22 private septic haulers that dump wastes at the landfill.
Of the 22, 11 have the mayor's permit to operate their business in the city and have paid for their business permit. The others pay the tipping fee of P200 per ton of garbage dumped at the facility.
“Based on our interviews with the drivers of the trucks, they collect wastes from other cities. Unfortunately, there is no way we can monitor where they collect the septic waste.
Nagkadaghan na gyud ni sila that is why I am asking for guidance what we should do with them,” Navarro said.
Mixed
He said aside from the septic haulers, there are also private garbage haulers dumping at the landfill that may also be collecting garbage from other cities.
Navarro said he is waiting for advice from the Solid Waste Management Board on what to do with the private haulers.
Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr., chairman of the council committee on public services, said he is also proposing to set up a septic waste treatment facility at the landfill to comply with environmental laws and to control the stench.
Inayawan barangay officials said aside from septic waste, body parts and hospital wastes continue to be dumped in the landfill.
“All types of waste including sludge from septic tanks and hospital waste, even body parts, find their way to the landfill while the leachate has penetrated bodies of water in the vicinity, contributing further to the growing threat and well-being of our constituents as well as that of the environment,” they said in the resolution. (LCR/BAP)