Drop MRF plan, Cabanatuan City execs told

CABANATUAN CITY — The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has asked the city government to rehabilitate the 40-foot high open dumpsite in Barangay Valle Cruz instead of putting up the controversial material recovery facility (MRF) in the city’s outskirts.

Lormelyn Claudio, EMB Region 3 director, told The STAR that her office has advised Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara to consider rehabilitating the Valle Cruz dumpsite and abandon his plan for an MRF, which the affected residents have strongly opposed.

"The focus should be on the rehabilitation of the Valle Cruz dumpsite and use of a small portion of the area for a temporary MRF that would cater only to the temporary storage of residual waste and household waste," Claudio said.

Claudio was reacting to the continued insistence of the city government to proceed with an MRF in Barangay Macatbong despite the EMB’s failure to issue an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the project.

Earlier, Vergara filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against Claudio and DENR Region 3 executive director Regidor de Leon for refusing to grant an ECC for the proposed Macatbong MRF.

Because of this, Vergara said the city might suffer a garbage crisis since the Valle Cruz dumpsite is set to be closed.

The dumpsite is being compared to the former dump in Payatas, Quezon City due to the huge volume of garbage.

At present, the city is still using it to dispose of its 83 tons of garbage daily.

Vergara said he was forced to take legal action against the EMB and the DENR because the city government has spent so much to realize its plan to put up the MRF.

Last year, the city government purchased a 7.8-hectare property in Macatbong for P1.4 million for the P48-million MRF.

Vergara said the city government spends a whopping P15.6 million annually for garbage collection, while residents pay only P950,000 in garbage disposal fees yearly.

Claudio said the Macatbong MRF is not the solution to the city’s garbage problem but segregation of wastes.

She said the city government and its garbage contractor, Lacto Asia Pacific Corp., have failed to comply with the requirements for the rehabilitation of the Valle Cruz dumpsite, which explains why a notice to proceed (NTP) and an ECC were not granted for the MRF project.

As early as July last year, Claudio said her office had notified the city government that they were not inclined to issue an NTP and ECC for the Macatbong MRF due to several reasons, including that its location was unclear.

She said Lacto, which the city government authorized to apply for the NTP, claimed that the MRF would be located in Pangatian although reports said it would be in Macatbong.

Claudio said the proposed MRF site is now being used for farming and is a potential ecotourism area.