Exec: Landfill operated as dumpsite

Exec: Landfill operated as dumpsite. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Councilor mulls filing case against DENR-7 for giving OK to reopen Inayawan landfill

A Cebu City councilor is planning to file a case against the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) for giving the go signal to reopen the sanitary landfill in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City, last June.

Councilor Joel Garganera said he was contemplating on the move after the DENR-7 representative in last week’s City Council’s executive session discussing the reopening of the landfill revealed that in their inspection last week, the landfill was not being operated as a landfill but as a dumpsite.

“Because their representative told us during the executive session that it (landfill) violated some environmental laws,” said Garganera.

Engineer Marcus Silveron of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 of DENR-7 said during the executive session that the operation of Inayawan Sanitary Landfill no longer conformed to the ideal operation of a landfill.

Silveron cited that rehabilitation of the leachate pond, which was a requirement of the DENR-7 for the landfill reopening, but it had not yet been completed.

He said the landfill was already operated as a dump site.

The observation, Silveron said, was based on the regular monitoring that the team from another department of DENR-7 made last month.

“The Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was issued with environmental compliance certificate. This means that prior to its development or the construction, it was designed as sanitary landfill. But unfortunately, the operation has went beyond the usual operation of the landfill,” he said.

No operational permit

Nikko Dajao, nurse coordinator of the Environmental and Occupational Health Program of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), said that the landfill had no operational permit from their office.

Prior to the operation of a sanitary landfill, Dajao said that an operational permit must be secured, which would be duly approved by the regional director of DOH-7 and with the recommending approval of our sanitary engineer.

He said there was no endorsement from the sanitary engineer for its evaluation, and there were no requirements submitted by the city government yet.

Garganera said he was confused with the DENR-7’s actions especially since the office threatened the city government when the landfill was not yet closed that it would file charges against the city if it would continue to operate the landfill.

The city government during former Mayor Michael Rama’s term closed it.

But during the recent reopening of the landfill, the DENR-7 did not give any objections to the city government’s move.

Silveron also said that last June 9, the DENR-7 received then Councilor Margarita Osmeña, who was the then acting mayor of the city on the request of the issuance of the notice to proceed for the temporary opening of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

He said that the DENR-7 replied in a letter saying that the office did not have the authority to issue the city’s request to reopen the landfill, but they had no objections to the move.

Silveron said that the reply gave the city the green light to push through with the temporary reopening of the landfill provided that it would comply with all its commitments and it would be subject to regular monitoring of the environment office.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña opted to reopen the landfill to save funds of the city from paying millions of tipping fee for its garbage thrown at the private landfill in Consolacion.