Garganera wants city to produce post-closure rehab plan

INAYAWAN LANDFILL

CLOSING down and ceasing the operations of the Inayawan landfill is not enough.

This was asserted by opposition Councilor Joel Garganera of the Barug-PDP Laban group after he filed a resolution urging the Cebu City Government to heed the Supreme Court’s (SC) order to implement a post-closure rehabilitation plan for the dumpsite.

Garganera, in his resolution, stated that until now the city is yet to give the council updates about its rehabilitation plans for the 15-hectare landfill which the SC ordered closed.

“Up to this date, no post-closure rehabilitation plan was presented to the city council. And this year, there have been numerous news articles expressing the intention of the city in setting up a waste-to-treatment (WTE) facility in a four-hectare property near the Inayawan landfill,” he added.

SC decision

Last May, the High Court dismissed the petition filed by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña seeking to reverse a Court of Appeals ruling in 2016, which granted the first-ever Writ of Kalikasan in Cebu and ordered the city government to close the landfill.

The SC echoed the findings of the appellate court that “the continued operation of the Inayawan landfill poses a serious and pressing danger to the environment that could result in injurious consequences to the health and lives of the nearby residents.”

They also urged the city government to start its rehabilitation of the dumpsite, which Garganera stressed must be scrutinized and done transparently if the city wants to avoid being held in contempt.

“These projects must be dealt with strict scrutiny coupled with the observance of due diligence in compliance with the decision of the court. As public officials, we must ensure that our efforts are not wasted and are directed towards the betterment and ecological improvement of the city and our constituents,” Garganera explained.

Updates

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO), the agency tasked on implementing the Inayawan landfill rehabilitation, assured the council that they will be able to give them updates on the matter.

“The closure rehabilitation plan will be presented this coming Wednesday in a meeting together with the Solid Waste Management Board,” said CCENRO chief, Ma. Nida Cabrera, in a text message.

The city government is currently entertaining a proposal to put up a WTE facility at the landfill.

In March, the council authorized the help of a private consultancy firm to conduct research on the Inayawan landfill, and the data collected will be used to determine if a WTE facility would be feasible.

Three months later, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved their request for P40-million worth of financial assistance for the facility’s pre-feasibility study.