Rama says city to re-implement strict segregation of garbage

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu City Acting Mayor Michael Rama yesterday announced that the city will strictly implement the policy that unsegregated garbage will not be collected by the city’s garbage collectors.

Rama warned that officials of barangays that will not heed the policy will face the risk of charges like what happened to former Apas barangay captain Clemente Rosales.

Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Ecological Management Act provides that garbage should be segregated before these will be brought to a dump site.

Councilor Nestor Archival, chairman of the City Council committee on environment, encouraged for garbage composting in the barangays to produce natural fertilizers that the city can even reportedly buy.

But because some barangays do not have ample space for composting, Archival suggested for barangays to cluster themselves to identify a common garbage composting site.

The segregation of garbage and garbage composting in barangays are two steps that would reportedly extend the life span of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill until the city finds a new location for a dump site.

So far, no barangay has accepted the P5 million offer of Mayor-on-leave Tomas Osmeña in exchange for allowing the city to put up the dump site at the barangay.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and some environmentalists have already asked the city to stop using the existing landfill in barangay Inayawan.The DENR believes that the city has fallen short of the standards provided for by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act in operating the Inayawan landfill.

But in yesterday’s press conference, Rama contended that the land fill just cannot be closed anytime soon.

“Kon sirhan ug dili na nato gamiton karon ang landfill sa Inayawan, asa man nato ibutang ang inyong mga basura? Anha sa atubangan o kaha likod sa balay sa mga kapitan?” Rama said. — Rene U. Borromeo/JMO (THE FREEMAN)