Employees clean up the remaining trash at the landfill located in Barangay Binaliw. | CDNDigital file photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Mandaue City may also stink should the waste treatment facility in Barangay Binaliw in Cebu City closes.
Acting Mayor Carlo Pontico Fortuna, in a press conference on Monday, June 17, said he was hoping that Mandaue City Mayor-elect Jonas Cortes and Cebu City Mayor-elect Edgardo Labella would be able to discuss the impact to Mandaue City if the Binaliw waste treatment facility would be closed.
Fortuna met with Mandaue City Hall department heads on Monday to discuss the transition and turnover of the pertinent documents of the city to the incoming administration.
“We suggested that one of the first things that have to be discussed between Mayor-elect Jonas Cortes and Mayor-elect Edgar Labella is to continue the operation of Binaliw waste treatment facility. Kung wala tay kalabayan, walay kolekta [If we can’t have a place to dispose of our garbage, then there will be no garbage collection here in our city],” said Fortuna.
“If the problem with Binaliw will not be managed and would lead to the closure of the dumpsite which the city of Mandaue has a contract with, it will greatly impact us kay wa man gyud tay kalabayan (because we have nowhere else to throw our garbage),” Fortuna added.
Read more: City Council okays disposing Mandaue’s garbage to Binaliw land
Mandaue City started disposing of its garbage at the Binaliw facility in May 2019 when the landfill in Consolacion temporarily shut down because of the sliding off of the mountain of trash there.
Labella, who will be assuming office as Mayor of Cebu City this July 1, has vowed to form a committee that would probe the landfill following complaints of foul smell and threat of health hazard to the residents of the village.
Read more: Binaliw landfill to take more trash from Metro Cebu
ARN Builders, the firm that runs the facility, has ironed out the issue with the Environmental Management Board in Central Visayas (EMB-7) and the Binaliw barangay officials.
ARN Builders agreed that the haulers would use neutralizing agents often to minimize the smell of the garbage they were delivering to the landfill./dbs