The SRP transfer station (CDN FILE PHOTO)
Personnel from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) office are the latest people to complain of the stench coming from the garbage left to be transferred at the temporary transfer station in the South Road Properties (SRP), despite the stopping of the dumping in the station.
Engineer Roy dela Cruz of the DPWH’s construction division sent an e-mail to Cebu Daily News complaining about the “very foul odor” coming from the old transfer station.
“Please stay for just an hour so you can experience how the smell can badly affect your health. And empathize with us, the employees, who have been suffering for a month now,” he said.
The transfer station, which is also located just beside the office of City Hall’s Department of Public Services (DPS), was opened in December following the Court of Appeals (CA) order for the closure of the Inayawan landfill.
But it was also immediately ordered stopped by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 which said that the area cannot be called a transfer station wherein garbage should be taken out within 24 hours. It was considered an open dumpsite which is already prohibited by law.
After the city government entered a contract with a private hauler, Jomara Konstruckt Corp., it started to take out the garbage and dump it in another private landfill.
But Jomara had yet to clear out all the garbage left at the old transfer station.
Sought for comment on this, Roberto Cabarrubias, DPS head, appealed for understanding.
He said that the reason why the area has not been totally cleared was that one of Jomara’s equipment hit and damaged two pipes of the nearby Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. (PWRI).
The pool of water has hampered hauling activities and at the same time caused the smell of the month-old garbage to worsen.
“If the pipes did not burst, we could have cleared the remaining garbage by tomorrow (today). We’ll need to extend two or three more days because we have to let the area dry up. By Monday afternoon, it will be cleared,” he told CDN.
Cabarrubias said they cannot take out the garbage if it is still wet since there have been complaints of leachate seeping out from Jomara’s trucks during transport of the garbage.
Council’s harassment
Meanwhile, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña defended Councilor Jun Gabuya’s proposal on establishing a transfer station inside the Inayawan landfill, saying that the Team Rama–dominated council are just harassing them.
Osmena was referring to Team Rama councilors expressing their objection on Gabuya’s proposed ordinance.
“That is the kind of abuse that we have in City Hall. They can block it like the way they always do. But I want the people to know, they just want to harass us,” he said.