The opposition-led Cebu City Council thumbed down an ordinance that would have allowed a private developer to put up a sanitary landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City.
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera of Barug Team Rama party said there’s a need for transparency, and apparently it was not accomplished.
On April 24, voting 9–8, the Cebu City Council did not approve the ordinance for ARN Builders to convert a 1.7 hectares of land in the mountain village of Binaliw into an open dumpsite similar to that of the controversial Inayawan landfill.
“They (Cebu City government) started on the wrong foot. They were not being transparent. They did not comply. I just want them to be transparent,” said Garganera.
He added that after he and Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. conducted an investigation on the site last year after a landowner complained that his property was being quarried without permission, they found out that the contractor was on the way to developing the area into an open dumpsite.
“The contractor initially applied for a permit to put up an MRF (material recovery facility) but it turns out, their application was for a landfill. A 1.7-hectare as an open dumpsite, in just 15 days it will be full. They said only eight percent of the city’s garbage can be
accommodated so where will the 92 percent go?” Garganera said.
He also slammed the city government for apparently turning a blind eye when officials of Barangay Binaliw as well as the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued ARN Builders a cease-and-desist order.
“We keep questioning them but blank.They said they were not aware of this issue. I don’t believe they don’t know anything about it. I don’t believe such development with that magnitude does not have any permit from the City Hall and I don’t think they will gamble on that,” said Garganera.
The council’s decision to stop ARN from developing the area as dumpsite got the ire of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña who, in his Facebook page, dared the opposing councilors to provide alternatives to the seemingly unending issue on garbage management.
Osmeña pointed out that the councilors were just playing politics.
“Not only can we not use the Inayawan landfill, now we cannot develop a landfill to replace it. So where is the garbage supposed to go now? In light of this development, are you going to let the City acquire additional trucks? Or are you going to continue to make it difficult for the City to collect the garbage and let more Cebuanos suffer for the sake of your politics,?” Osmeña said on his caption.