Scavengers sort through the garbage at the transfer station rented by Jomara Konstruckt near the Inayawan landfill site in this Jan. 25, 2017 file photo.
THE Cebu City Council will ask city residents if they would support the city government’s move to set up a one -hectare transfer station in the now closed Inayawan dumpsite despite a court order not to do so.
The council scheduled a public hearing on the issue on April 18 after the committee on laws rendered a report that rejected Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr.’s proposal to set up a garbage transfer station at the Inayawan dumpsite.
Invited to the public hearing are officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) along with other stakeholders.
The laws and rules committee chaired by Councilor Raymond Garcia said in its report that Gabuya’s proposal will contradict a Court of Appeals (CA) decision issued last December, ordering the city not to dump its garbage at the Inayawan dumpsite.
The same decision ordered the city and its officials to continue with the “complete and sufficient” rehabilitation of the dumpsite.
“The proposed ordinance of Hon. Gabuya is a step to the opposite direction of the aforesaid decision of the Court of Appeals,” Garcia said during the council’s regular session last week.
Councilor Gabuya questioned the committee report, saying a garbage transfer station inside the Inayawan dumpsite is not the same as dumping garbage in it.
“In this transfer station, we will be transferring the garbage from truck to truck. And even if the city will dump in the transfer station, it will be cleaned after 24 hours,” Gabuya said.
Councilor Garcia insisted that operating a garbage transfer station is still considered dumping inside the facility which violates the court order.
But Gabuya argued that the CA decision didn’t specifically prohibit using the landfill as a transfer station, only dumping within its area.
“I will have to ask for a public hearing. You cannot just say it is disapproved,” Gabuya said to which Councilor Garcia agreed.