A garbage truck passes by the Tampaan Barangay Hall on its way to dump its garbage from Cebu City to the Aloguinsan landfill in this May 18, 2018 photo.
STENCH carried by what used to be fresh air, and the threat of leachate ontheir source of water are the main concerns of the residents of Barangay Tampaan in Aloguinsan town, located 59 kilometers southwest of Cebu City with the operation of a landfill in their community.
A Barangay Tampaan resident, who asked not to be named, said that aside from the foul smell from the trash in the nearby landfill and the garbage trucks that would pass by the resident’s house on its way to the landfill, the resident was also worried of the possible effects of the landfill operations on the safety of their water source.
“Sila (the landfill operators) mismo pag-abot namo sa Poblacion niadtong nagpublic hearing, niingon sila nga madaot gyod ang among tubig after how many years. Sila mismo ang ni-bring up ana (They were the ones who told us during the public hearing that our water will be contaminated after some years. They brought that up themselves),” said the resident.
The resident also said they were promised to be supplied with water from the water district that had been supplying water in the Poblacion if the barangay’s water supply would get contaminated.
The landfill is located in a 11.6- hectare stretch of land at the boundary of Barangays Tampaan and Punay.
The trucks carrying the garbage enter the landfill through the roads of Barangay Tampaan.
According to Tarcisio Larisma, the incumbent barangay captain of Barangay Tampaan, the proponents of the landfill and the local government unit of Aloguinsan did not hold a public hearing in the barangay until March 18, 2018.
This is 14 months since the landfill started to operate in January 2017.
“There was no public hearing in the barangay but in the Poblacion. It was only a few of us who attended the hearing at the Poblacion,” said Larisma in Cebuano.
Larisma, who was only proclaimed as the barangay captain in Jan. 15, 2018, said that the previous barangay officials were only convened by the former town Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno to let them know about the plan to construct the landfill.
He claimed that the former barangay officials thought that only garbage from the town would be thrown there and not from other areas.
But Aloguinsan Mayor Augustus Caesare Moreno belied Larisma’s claim about having no public hearing conducted prior to the operations.
Moreno accused Larisma of politicizing the landfill project through his alleged claims of irregularity.
Moreno said that the landfill had complete documents and that they had studied the effects of the landfill’s presence to the community before constructing it.
“On and off ang operation ana since napa-stop to sa DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) due to — lack of documents. They complied until there were no objections already from the DENR until now,” said Moreno.
On the leachate issue, Moreno said that the landfill had a facility preventing the leachate from the garbage from seeping into the water system.
He said that those who cried foul over the existence of the landfill were not residing in the immediate community near the landfill.
He said residents in the area would not complain because they could actually earn from the landfill.
But Larisma for his part said that he had asked the Provincial Enviroment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO ) to check on the landfill.
But he said that PENRO had not yet acted on his request.
He also said that he had questioned the ongoing operations of the landfill despite the absence of any ordinance to allow it to operate.
Larisma said that he had initiated a signature campaign asking for the stoppage of the landfill’s operation in March.
He said that at least 80 people from Sitio Balao, the community nearest to the landfill, signed the petition while the others declined because of fear that the incumbent officials will feel bad about them.
The landfill, according to the Enviromental Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7), is owned by a Rafael Moreno, the son of former Aloguinsan Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno.
Cebu City is one of the municipalilties that utilizes the Aloguinsan landfill.
In a previous interview with Cebu Daily News, Cebu City Department of Public Services (DPS) Chief Roberto Cabarrubias said that they do not have a hand as to where their contractor will treat the garbage which they haul from the city.
Cabarrubias said that the city entered into a contract with Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor) and thus, the contractor has the responsibility to find an able landfill that can accommodate the city’s waste after the closure of the Inayawan Landfill in 2017.