Most Cebu LGUs don’t have sanitary landfills

CEBU, Philippines - Only six of the 52 local government units in Cebu were able to establish the mandated sanitary landfill, according to the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office.

PENRO officer Chad Estella said there are only three LGUs using a material recovery facility. He shared the information during yesterday’s Solid Waste Management Board meeting in the Capitol Social Hall.

The absence of mandatory landfills in majority of the province’s towns and cities, Estella said, remains a challenge since this is inconsistent with the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003). The law was passed in 2000.

So far, only the towns of Dalaguete, Asturias, Compostela, and Consolacion and the cities of Talisay and Mandaue are using sanitary landfills.

Toledo City and the towns of Balamban and Pinamungajan also have existing controlled landfills but Estella said they are still dumping their wastes at the prohibited open dumpsites.

Meanwhile, the cities of Naga and Carcar and the town of Minglanilla have commissioned a private company to process their garbage in an MRF in Naga.

RA 9003 provides for the creation of an MRF in every barangay, town/city and province, but the PENRO head said most have failed to follow the same.

Estella said during incumbency of former governor Gwen Garcia, each barangay was granted P50,000 for an MRF project (except for the towns of Tudela and Consolacion and the City of Naga, which reportedly refused to receive the funding), but only a few were able to successfully implement it.

“Despite the receipt (of the funds), wa magmalampuson,” he said.

He, however, admitted that the province is also to blame as it, too, has no sanitary landfill of its own. He said Governor Hilario Davide III is planning to have one in Carmen and another in the south.

He added that with the Solid Waste Management Board being reactivated, he hopes to see an improvement this time.

LGUs that fail to comply with RA 9003 can be slapped with administrative and criminal cases.

Meanwhile, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale said the former administration of Garcia set aside P100 million for the MRF projects, and that when Magpale last checked, the fund had a balance of P46 million.

But quoting the provincial treasurer, Magpale said money was already “disbursed for some other reasons.”

She said the fund could have been used to establish sanitary landfills in the province. — Liv G. Campo/JMD (FREEMAN)