Alcera hits illegal trash dumping

Pasay City mayoral candidate Greg Alcera has denounced the illegal dumping of garbage in a private village near a water pumping station allegedly by the city’s garbage contractor.

Alcera said the administration of Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad started disposing of tons of garbage near the pumping station at the Don Carlos Village on Airport Road for the past five months without health and sanitary assurance.

Alcera, the incumbent vice mayor, said that at least 10 unmarked trucks from an unidentified contractor are continuously dumping the garbage at midnight when most of the residents are already sleeping.

But Trinidad clarified that this practice has since been stopped and the area was cleared. Residents of Don Carlos Village, however, disagree.

The illegal dumpsite is also near the land owned and occupied by the Light Railway Transit Corp. It was learned that the improvised dumpsite could spill over a river during rainy days since it is just 20 meters away from the river banks.

A city hall official revealed that the dumpsite has been kept secret to Pasay residents to prevent alarming reactions regarding its health hazard.

Alcera said the contractor will reduce the top of the mountainous garbage to keep it from being obvious then it will be transported to another undisclosed place also in Pasay.

The vice mayor said the problem of uncollected garbage in the city started last year when the Metro Manila Development Authority closed down the major landfills in San Mateo, Rizal and at Payatas in Quezon City.

However, garbage in several barangays in Pasay particularly in District I and even near city hall have remained uncollected because there are no regular trash collectors for the past few months.

Alcera said the city government has a P215-M annual budget for garbage collection but the government has no medium-term and long-term solution to the problem since Trinidad opposed the council’s approved ordinances.

Alcera said the dumping of garbage within the city is not a guarantee to solve the rising garbage problem.

He said the temporary trash site can also be a root of another problem in the health of Pasayeños. The pile of garbage is also a threat to the water system in the city when seepage occurs.

Among Alcera’s proposals are garbage segregation, composting and recycling to attain a lasting solution to the garbage problem now plaguing the entire Metro Manila.

Alcera with his vice mayoralty candidate Danny Roque earlier spearheaded a segregation scheme at Villamor Air Base.