THE Cebu Provincial government and other stakeholders are studying successful models of sanitary landfills such as the one in Tacloban where they can adopt for the province’s planned landfill in Barangay Dauis Sur, Carmen Town in northern Cebu.
Baltazar Tribunalo, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) officer-in-charge, said this as they went on a trip to study the Tacloban landfill last Friday.
Tribunalo said the goal of the trip was to check how the technology of a sanitary landfill works, including its safety when it comes to how it could affect the environment.
“Mao na kadtong didto ta og Tacloban, gipatan-aw ta sa kanang mga ongoing nga project nga kanang gitawag nato nga landfill, ang iyahang safety, ang pag-protect sa tubig kay naa man gud toy issue sa Carmen nga ang tubig nila maapektuhan (That is the reason we went to Tacloban to check on the ongoing landfill project there — the safety and how to protect the water especially on the issue of the clamor of the residents of Carmen),” he said.
“So unsa ma’y mga technology nga dili siya maapektohan (So we looked at the technology they used to protect the water),” he said.
The planned sanitary landfill of the province had been met with concerns among the residents of the place as to how it could affect the environment, especially when it comes to their water supply.
Tribunalo said that they were able to see how a landfill operates, from using high density plastics to properly seal it and prevent leakage of lichate that could contaminate the water supply as well as to the proper segregation and disposal of the garbage into the site.
Tribunalo explained that the trip was initiated by one of the interested proponents of the landfill project, pointing out that they are currently in an exploratory stage where they will be checking the proposals to see the best feasible landfill practice and technology that could be adopted.
At present, Tribunalo said there are at least four proponents that have signified interest in taking up the sanitary landfill project of the province, but he pointed out that there are no formalities set as of yet as it would still to go through several steps like bidding.
A P5 million budget, included in its Annual Investment Plan for 2016, had been allocated by the province to prepare and develop the area.
The property was bought by the province during the time of former Gov. Gwen Garcia.