People who have been reading my column over the years know I have several pet peeves.
Top on the list are vehicles that are parked illegally on sidewalks and uncollected garbage.
Government corruption is also up there but I don’t write so much about it because, frankly, it’s like banging your head against the wall. And trust me, I try to avoid getting a headache as much as possible.
Plus, I believe something can be done about illegal parking and uncollected garbage, while it is almost next to impossible to address a rotten core.
In Barangay Sambag 1 in Cebu City where I live, garbage collection is, well, sporadic. But it gets collected.
I have to commend barangay officials for doing their utmost to keep our sidewalks clear of dumped waste with the resources they have because it’s no easy feat.
Mechanical defects they can fix. Fuel they can certainly purchase if the budget is available. Manpower they can always replace.
But all bets are off when they have to deal with force majeure?
The Oxford dictionary defines it as “unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract” or “irresistible compulsion or greater force.”
It is commonly known as an act of God, “an event for which no party can be held accountable,” such as an earthquake or a typhoon.
Anyway, so why am I talking about a phrase of French origin that means superior strength?
Well, I chanced upon an anonymous video that shows alleged operational irregularities in the landfill in Barangay Polog in the northern town of Consolacion, Cebu.
The facility, if you can call it that, is operated by the Asian Energy Systems Corp. It accepts wastes from private haulers and the local governments of Cebu City, Mandaue City, Lapu-Lapu City and Consolacion.
So I guess that’s where the garbage from Sambag 1 also goes.
The voice on the video reveals the dangerous realities about the alleged chaotic landfall operational systems.
What I’m going to write next are claims and allegations of the unseen person on the video. I am only repeating them because they are quite serious and, if proven true, have a dire impact on the environment.
Also, Asian Energy Systems Corp. has a colorful past.
The man says the waste is not segregated once it arrives in the landfill, which results to disorganized garbage piles. At times, he said, the garbage is left on the road side, rendering roads slippery and obstructing traffic.
The man says the dump site emits a foul odor because of inadequate chemical spraying. He is afraid that this will have an impact on the health of workers as well as on the health of surrounding residents.
Well, this isn’t the first time that Asian Energy Systems Corp. and its landfill in Polog have gotten some negative attention.
In 2019, the firm landed on the news when it was ordered to stop operations by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 after it was found violating environmental laws.
The EMB 7, in a press statement, said Asian Energy Systems Corp. violated provisions of Presidential Decree 1586, or the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System, and Republic Act 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act.
Based on the findings of EMB 7 personnel who inspected the landfill in April and May that year, Asian Energy Systems Corp. “failed to implement its Environmental Management Plan,” resulting in a landslide that buried alive a garbage truck driver.
By the time his body was retrieved four days later, he was already dead.
According to the SunStar Cebu report that was published on May 22, 2019, the landfill also “exceeded the wastewater effluent standards for chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, and total coliform parameters, which violates one of the conditions in the ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate) and provisions of the Philippine Clean Water Act.”
So there may be more than a grain of truth behind the unseen person’s allegations against Asian Energy Systems Corp.
Perhaps concerned government agencies can visit the landfill and conduct another inspection. After all, it has almost been five years since the controversy.
Perhaps they should go when it is raining or it has been raining.
According to another claim, the road leading to the landfill is inaccessible to garbage trucks during rainy days, which would explain why garbage collection in your barangay becomes intermittent.