DESPITE several complaints about the stench coming from the facility, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña insisted on the continued operation of the landfill in Barangay Inayawan.
He warned the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) against ordering the landfill closed due to the several violations, saying it would force him to dump the city’s trash at the South Road Properties (SRP) instead.
“If we are challenged, if DENR will close our landfill, I will dump it in the SRP because I have a choice?. As a local government official, I will exercise the public welfare clause. I will do what I think is necessary under the circumstances. Where will I put it? I cannot leave it in the streets. There are more people in the city’s streets than in SRP,” he said.
DENR earlier cited the City for 13 violations, including the problem on stench, on the reopening of the landfill and the agency threatened to close the dumpsite if it will not be addressed.
Explained
The mayor met with the different stakeholders at City Hall yesterday morning including the locators at the SRP, representatives of DENR and City Hall department heads for a dialogue.
Osmeña explained to them the reason for the reopening of the landfill.
He said he doesn’t want the City to dump its trash again at the private sanitary landfill in Consolacion because the City is spending P20 million per month on tipping fee alone.
He also said the transaction is “illegal” and “grossly anomalous” because it has no contract. The previous administration said a purchase order is already considered a contract.
“Now, they have seen an issue where they are trying to force me to go to Consolacion. I am resisting that. I just cannot get into that kind of situation because it is physically and financially acceptable? I am not going to go to Consolacion because I am not going to jail for this,” said Osmeña.
Interventions
The City is already doing some interventions, he said, to minimize the foul odor coming from the landfill.
Osmeña ordered to stop Inayawan Barangay Captain Lotlot Ignacio-Soon from dumping the garbage they collected to the landfill as it is contributing to the stench. The facility of Soon in the barangay was used by the City then as a transfer station.
The City will also start spraying odor-controlling enzymes starting today at the landfill as the City will make emergency purchase of anapog, said Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Nagiel Bañacia.
But while there is no anapog supply yet, Ba?acia said they are asking the construction firms to dispose their excess filling materials at the SRP.
He said he has set aside an area there where they can dump their excess soil and it will be the City who will bring it to the landfill to cover the trash. Bañacia is the officer-in-charge of the SRP management office.
Osmeña hit the City Council for sitting on the executive department’s request for a P10-million budget to buy anapog.
On top of these, Osmeña said the Cebu Contractors’ Association is lending the City one bulldozer, which will be used to level the pile of trash dumped at the landfill.
This, considering that the City’s two bulldozers broke down and Department of Public Services Chief Roberto Cabarrubias said it will take three months to repair.
Compliance
While the City is doing some interventions to minimize the smell, former councilor Nida Cabrera, who had been tasked to oversee the reopening of the landfill, reported yesterday the commitments of the City to address the 13 violations noted by the DENR.
On the failure of the City to get a discharge permit, Cabrera said they will be applying for it within the first week of September.
On the failure of the City to enforce the use of personal protective equipment for the workers, Cabrera said the City will start to strictly implement it at all times.
As to the absence of a perimeter fence supposedly to prevent illegal entry or illegal squatting in the area, she said the perimeter fence will be built within the first quarter of next year.
She went on to say that hazardous waste will not be allowed to be disposed at the landfill.
Cabrera also said the City will provide adequate cover to all garbage trucks to prevent blowing or flying litter as noted by the DENR.
The City also committed to start putting soil cover at the landfill to minimize the odor and prevent flies from hovering in the area.
On the issue of scavengers, Cabrera said the informal waste pickers will be organized and a list will be submitted to the DENR.
As for the inoperative leachate plant, Cabrera said it is already being rehabilitated by the City and it will be finished on or before December this year.
A P50-million budget, she added, is also being proposed for the environmental guarantee fund, which will cover the expenses for the monitoring of the operations at the landfill and address any immediate concerns.
Cabrera said the commitments of the City had already been laid down when she met with the DENR last week.
As to the long-term plan of the City to address its garbage problem, Osmeña said yesterday that he is already studying offers on the establishment of a waste-to-energy facility.
However, he said, it will take several years for it to be realized. Hence, the City will have to make do in using the landfill.
If worse comes to worst, there is a preliminary study on making the Inayawan landfill last for another 10 years instead of two years, he said.
“To do that is to build a high retaining wall so that it can hold back the garbage up to five or six floors high.
That is our fallback situation,” he said.
Osmeña met with the different stakeholders yesterday before he flies today to Kaohsiung in Taiwan to attend a conference. He will be back on Thursday yet.
After yesterday’s meeting, the City will be giving another status update on the operation of the landfill to the concerned stakeholders in two weeks.