ILLEGAL DUMPING

The Cebu City government has been ordered by the Environmental and Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7) to stop the “illegal dumping” of garbage at the South Road Properties (SRP), but it is not going to happen anytime soon.

Immediately after the cease and desist order (CDO) was issued yesterday by EMB-7 Director William Cuñado, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, to whom the order was addressed, said he will disobey the CDO.

The mayor said dumping the garbage on SRP was the only choice left to him since the garbage could no longer be brought to the Inayawan landfill, which was ordered closed by the Court of Appeals, or could it be transported to the private landfill in Consolacion, as its hauling deal with City Hall under the previous administration was done without bidding and was thus illegal.

“The city will be forced to choose between two illegal acts. One is to avail of services of a private landfill without bidding our contract, that is graft. The other alternative is to utilize the Inayawan landfill in defiance of the court order,” he said.

Osmeña said dumping the garbage in SRP was just temporary. But it appeared to be indefinite since, according to the mayor, the transfer station will be used until the city finds a suitable permanent location.

As to why SRP was his only temporary dumpster of choice, the mayor said because it was accessible.

He remained adamant that only SRP can be used as the city’s “temporary” open dump even as the City Council, voting 9–8, to “vehemently oppose and strongly object” to the establishment of a transfer station in SRP.

‘How temporary?’

The City Council, however, believed the mayor does have a choice not to dump the garbage in SRP. Councilor Joel Garganera, in a privilege speech delivered at yesterday’s council session, said the decision of Osmeña to use the SRP as a transfer station for over four days is already violating Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 that says a transfer station could not be operated beyond 24 hours.

“It is not within the scope of the definition of a transfer station if they plan to temporarily store the garbage for 10 days or more. Considering that they have not identified a final disposal site, it all boils down to the question how temporary is temporary?” he said.

“The chosen location for such transfer station only adds to the speculation that the mayor is going after the investors in SRP because of his personal agenda,” Garganera said.

“Cebu City is one of the fastest-growing city in the country. We have become globally competitive and yet instead of attracting investors, he is driving them away,” he added.

Garganera suggested the city should look for a temporary landfill other than SRP where it can dispose its wastes while the city still does not have its own facility.

University of Cebu founder and president Augusto W. Go said he will take Osmeña’s word that the transfer station at SRP, which is located near his property, is just a temporary dumping area.

“I’ll take his (Osmeña) word for it that it will be temporary,” Go told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.

Go added that classes is also on break for two to three weeks so he was not so worried.

He said though that the Cebu City government must look for another area, not in SRP, as a permanent dumping site for the collected garbage.

He said that should the area at SRP operate for a long time, it will be hazardous to the students’ health.

“The students will really leave. They should look for another place,” he said.

Toothless CDO

Cuñado yesterday admitted his office has no authority to compel Osmeña to comply with the CDO. Refusing a CDO could mean the city government can be fined, he added, but even that will still take time since it has to go through a process.

Cuñado said Cebu City is facing a violation because the SRP transfer station, located in a lot adjacent to the city’s Department of Public Services (DPS) warehouse, is being operated without Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

“Finally, in order to prevent grave or irreparable damage to the environment, you are hereby directed to immediately cease and desist from operating your project until you have secured ECC and other environmental permits,” the order said.

But Osmeña instead said, “If I were to choose, I would rather violate EMB rules because of non-compliance than going to jail by committing graft for procuring services of (the Consolacion) landfill without bid.”

EMB-7’s Chief Legal Officer Unalee Monares said during the 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza that the violation they noted was not based on Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) but on Presidential Decree 1586 or establishing an environmental impact statement system.

Under Section 4 of PD 1586, “No person, partnership or corporation shall undertake or operate any such declared environmentally critical project or area without first securing an ECC issued by the President or his duly authorized representative.” Violators will only be punished with a fine of P50,000 per violation.

Monares also admitted they cannot stop Cebu City if it defies the order since the agency has no police power and can only impose fines and penalties.

Monares, who led the team that inspected both the Inayawan landfill the dumping area at SRP, said City Hall could be held liable for “illegal dumping.”

“As far as the violation of illegal dumping, we made a report and endorsed it to our central office. It is up to them if they would issue another CDO or file appropriate (administrative or criminal) charges,” Monares told the reporters.

She also pointed out that under Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000), transfer stations refer to those facilities utilized to receive solid waste, temporarily store, separate, convert or otherwise process the materials in the solid wastes, or to transfer the solid wastes directly from smaller to larger vehicles for transport.

Violations

According to Monares, the SRP open dump did not only violate the requirement for a drainage and anti-leachate system, it also violated the provision that a transfer station should not exceed 24 hours, which means that all wastes dumped on SRP should have been removed and brought elsewhere after 24 hours.

EMB-7 also advised Cebu City to explain in writing why it should not face appropriate penalty for operating the SRP transfer station. Osmeña, however, threw the blame back on the opposition-dominated City Council, saying he could not find another landfill site after P600-million budget proposal for garbage management, including a plan to rehabilitate and extend the lifespan of Inayawan, was trimmed down to P85 million.

Osmeña said they could choose to stop collecting garbage and do away with the issue of where to dump it, but he would not do it.

“Whatever I have to suffer, I will always collect the garbage. I will never compromise the health and safety of the Cebuanos because DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) wants to save the environment,” he said.

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