‘I HAVE NO CHOICE’
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera delivers a privilege speech calling for the closure of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill during the regular session yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Council urges closure and moratorium on use of landfill
The Cebu City Council yesterday passed a resolution urging Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to close the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, and a corollary resolution urging a moratorium on the dumping of garbage inside the landfill.
But Osmeña, in an interview over radio DYAB, said he will continue using the landfill but will undertake measures to mitigate the stench.
“I have no choice, unless they want me to dump the garbage in Block 27 at the NRA (North Reclamation Area),” said Osmeña over DYAB. Block 27 is a city-owned lot around 250 meters from SM City Cebu.
The mayor had earlier asked for P10 million to purchase limestone (anapog) and other expenses to help minimize the stench but the council, in today’s session, did not take up the request.
Privilege Speech
In a privilege speech during the council’s regular session, Councilor Joel Garganera, who heads the committee on environment, said the city government should already act on the growing complaints against the stench coming from the 15-hectare facility.
“It is explicit that the operation of the dump site is not only inefficient or ineffective, but also unlawful. The truth is the foul odor is simply a symptom of a greater problem that is happening in the dump site namely soil and water contamination,” he said in his speech.
“There is a greater need to rehabilitate the dump site than its need to be reopened,” he added.
The council also asked the executive department to immediately formulate and implement a post-closure rehabilitation plan.
Garganera’s privilege speech prompted several questions from the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) bloc of the council, including where to throw the garbage after closure, statistics of people hospitalized due to the smell, efficiency of dumping garbage in the private landfill in Consolacion town and the legality of the reopening of the landfill, among others.
The council resorted to voting on Garganera’s proposed resolutions — the first incident which also tested the two new “independent” councilors in the council.
The Team Rama bloc outnumbered the minority with 11 votes including independent councilors Dave Tumulak and Hanz Abella despite their earlier announcement of leaving Team Rama.
The BO-PK bloc got six votes against Garganera’s resolutions.
Decision
The city government had been using a private dumping site in Consolacion and paid P280,000 per day as tipping fee alone at P600 per ton of garbage and P1,500 hauling fee per ton of garbage.
The mayor refuses to pay the fees, especially that there is no contract between the city government and the private dump site owner and the haulers.
The city generates between 300 to 500 tons of garbage per day.
“I have to make a decision. They have to understand. We are doing what we can under the circumstances. Nababoy gyud mi. (We are stymied.) So we are now rushing to fix the Inayawan Landfill and the council is blocking it and not allowing us to buy the anapog,” Osmeña said.
He said he will not leave garbage uncollected in the streets because this will cause an epidemic.
“What we’re looking for is to put a waste-to-energy plant there. We have proposals. The basura will be classified. The smell will not go out into the air.
The smell will power the gensets and produce electricity,” Osmeña said.
“But you’re right. We can’t go anywhere else. We can’t change things overnight. I cannot leave the garbage in our streets. Let’s just use the sanitary landfill. We don’t even have enough trucks to collect the garbage. If we use the sanitary landfill, ang mga trucks sa south they can do three trips sa north, they can make two trips. Sa Consolacion, only one trip,” the mayor added.
Moratorium
The council also passed a corollary motion authored by Councilor James Anthony Cuenco urging the mayor’s office to impose a moratorium on further dumping inside the landfill.
In the meantime, the executive department, he said, should work on the mitigating measures earlier discussed during last Sunday’s meeting with locators in the South Road Properties (SRP), representatives from government agencies and city hall department heads.
He also wants the executive department to look for temporary alternative sites where the garbage can be dumped while the corrective measures are being undertaken.
Osmeña earlier said there are plans to ask contractors with ongoing projects in the city for excess filling materials which can be used to put on top of newly dumped garbage to minimize the smell. The city will also spray odor-removing enzymes in the facility.
He said that if the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) forces the city to close its landfill, he will just dump the garbage at the SRP and call it “uncollected garbage” rather then leave it in the streets.
Continued use
“Last Sunday, the executive department called for a meeting with the businesses including SM and Ayala. Nobody objected. They were thankful for the executive for presenting what they’re going to do,” said Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. in defense of the mayor.
Councilor Sisinio Andales added that they should be “sober” and let the mayor do his interventions for the landfill. He said there have been no cases of people being hospitalized and getting sick because of the stench from the landfill.
But for Councilor Alvin Garcia, a lawyer, the most important question is the legality of the operation of the landfill.
He said that with the DENR opinion stating that the landfill violates 36 provisions of the law, the city should already stop using the landfill and follow what’s legal.
Among the major violations cited by DENR are failure to implement strict measures on disposal of hazardous or hospital waste, failure to efficiently operate a leachate plant and landfill glass flaring system which protects soil and water contamination, and failure to present an operational manual.
Garganera, on the other hand, said problems regarding the private landfill in Consolacion should be addressed instead of rejecting it outright.
He said the lack of contract between the city and the private landfill operator can be done and negotiations can be done to decrease the fees.
DOH
Meanwhile, an official from the Department of Health warned settlers in the Inayawan Landfill of health risks and that they are vulnerable to food and waterborne illnesses.
“This can cause diarrhea, typhoid fever and amoebiasis. They should be careful that their water and food will not be contaminated,” said Dr. Joanri Riveral, DOH Medical Officer III.
The foul odor emanating from the landfill could also cause respiratory illnesses like pneumonia, he added.
Environmentalist lawyer Gloria Estenso, meanwhile, suggested a total ban on plastics, similar to what is now being done in Mandaue City.
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