Council wants cancellation of Quiot Material Recovery Facility

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council wants to cancel the Material Recovery Facility project in barangay Quiot and instead use the fund to establish an MRF in barangays Guba, Kalunasan and Adlaon.

This, after a number of Quiot residents opposed the project out of fear of possible negative effects of the MRF to the immediate community.

Acting on the residents’ concern, the proposed MRF was issued a cease and desist order by the office of the Mayor upon the recommendation of the Solid Waste Management Board.

The city council passed a resolution last Wednesday asking the Department of Interior and Local Government to replace Quiot in the project with barangays Guba, Kalunasan and Adlaon that manifested their intentions to establish an MRF.

The three MRF projects supposedly for Quiot, Talamban and Luz, are funded by the DILG which allocated P55 million for the purpose. The allocation was sourced from the Local Governance Support Fund from which the city qualified after gaining the Seal of Good Housekeeping.

The fund has been transmitted to the city government for implementation but Cabrera said it must be implemented within the year.

The P55 million is the estimated cost of the three MRF projects in Quiot, Luz and Talamban. The estimate was made by the Department of Public Services which is the implementing body of the project.

The pending complaint of Quiot residents is delaying the implementation of the project, the council said.

To make sure the project will be implemented within this year, the council wants Quiot replaced by three new barangays increasing the number of MRFs from three to five.

The establishment of the MRF in different barangays is in compliance with the Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Waste Management Act.

The MRFs are expected to help manage the city’s waste in the barangay level especially after the closure of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill last year.

The MRFs are also expected to reduce the volume of garbage that the city is diverting to the private landfill in Consolacion. The city diverts over 250 tons of garbage to Consolacion private landfill.

Aside from reducing the garbage that goes to the landfill, the MRFs are also expected to benefit the community economically where they can earn from salvaging recyclables and reusable items. —/MIT (FREEMAN)