7 LGUs get waste composting facility

CEBU, Philippines —  At least seven local government units in Cebu recently received composting facility for biodegradable waste (CFBW) from the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture, and the Office of Senator Cynthia Villar. 

The recipients include Mandaue City and the municipalities of Tabogon, Carmen, Consolacion, Cordova, Oslob and Badian. Each LGU received a package of composting facility for biodegrable wastes comprising of a shredder and a rotary composter.

Jai Hinautan, Villar’s political officer in Cebu, said the facility is worth P954,000 each. The amount was donated by Villar through the BSWM.

Hinautan said the initiative started in 2015, two years after Villar’s election to the Senate in 2013. Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture, continued the program after her reelection 2019. 

“Sa iyaha na nga budget downloaded to BSWM. Iyaha pud na nga initiative nga project. Nagstart na paglingkod na niya as senator,” Hinautan told The Freeman. 

She said the senator has been distributing this kind of facility nationwide through government agencies under her committee on agriculture, food and agrarian reform.

“This a nationwide initiative of Senator Villar. Last year nakadawat pud ang Cebu City ana. This initiative aims to address their biodegradable waste and can be converted into organic fertilizer,” Hinautan added. 

DA-7 regional executive director Atty. Salvador D. Diputado led the distribution in the municipalities of Oslob and Badian.

Badian Mayor Carmencita Lumain personally accepted the turnover certificate from BSWM and DA.

In a statement, DA-7 said that the facility can produce a good compost or organic fertilizer for the various crops after around 40-hour decomposition process.

It added that this would encourage the recipients to use and maximize the facility in their respective waste management system, specifically on market wastes disposal. — FPL (FREEMAN)