TALKS between Baguio City and La Trinidad officials recently resolved issues on the city’s hauling and staging of non-biodegradable wastes in Sitio Lamtang.
Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan, in his Ugnayang Panlungsod program Wednesday, announced the agreement reached between them and Valley officials for the hauling and staging of garbage activities to continue. He said Baguio City has promised that certain measures will be observed to ensure no garbage stench and other harm will be caused by sorting activities on nearby residences.
This after Barangay Puguis officials initially issued an order to to stop the hauling and sorting activities by the city’s private hauler M.A. Camilo Freight Services inside the property of Martha Alberto prior to a consultation with village officials and residents.
“Of course we don’t like to bypass the municipality of La Trinidad and barangay Puguis that has jurisdiction over the area. Hindi lang kami pumunta noon because hindi pa perfected ang contract between the hauler and the private property owner and also the DENR inspection has not been completed,” Domogan said.
But Domogan said that in Wednesday afternoon’s meeting between both local governments, they reached a consensus that garbage hauling and staging activities will continue on a temporary basis with the city government providing deodorizers and disinfectants to ensure the area will not cause any inconvenience on nearby residents.
He stressed garbage brought inside the less than 1,000 square meter property by city haulers will not stay longer than 24 hours while strict compliance of environmental and sanitary requirements will be observed.
The mayor explained to La Trinidad officials that the staging of garbage in Sitio Lamtang will only be less than a year while the city prepares for its acquisition of a waste to energy technology that will process non-biodegradable wastes.
“I appreciate the attitude of officials in La Trinidad under the leadership of Mayor Edna Tabanda as they promised that we would help each other,” he said.
He said city and barangay officials will also inform residents living near the property emphasizing the area will only be used as staging ground for garbage activities during their public consultation on Friday.
The city mayor also said Alberto will be securing a business permit from the La Trinidad Municipal Government as a lessor of the property while Baguio’s private hauler M.A. Camilo Freight Services will also be securing the necessary business permits from the town.
Domogan further said that aside from resolving issues in the city’s garbage transfer and staging facility, the City Government will procure at least two garbage compactors worth P16 million to efficiently sort trash into garbage trucks moving the trash daily to the Urdaneta City landfill.
“If we are able to buy the garbage compactor, we will probably no longer find the need to have a transfer area as the compactor will be used to compress the trash and immediately haul to Urdaneta,” he said.
This as he said the City Government is mulling for a system that will sort and transfer trash in the barangays without the need of a transfer and staging area.