CEBU CITY officials are working overtime to ensure it stays ahead of the legal battle over the fate of the city’s controversial garbage dumpsite and has corrected almost half of the environmental violations that could force City Hall’s hands into closing the Inayawan sanitary landfill.
The writ of Kalikasan filed by Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera against the city government will not affect the resolve of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to keep the landfill open, particularly since City Hall has already addressed six of the 13 violations enumerated by Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB 7), said city environmental consultant and former city councilor Nida Cabrera.
Last Friday, Garganera file a petition for a writ of Kalikasan before the Court of Appeals (CA) to compel the city to stop the operation of the 15-hectare landfill.
Cabrera told Cebu Daily News there is no longer reason to shut down the landfill since it has since corrected six violations in its environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and is working on the remaining seven others.
To correct the violations, Cabrera said the city government has so far done the following: Strictly implemented the measures on the disposal of hazardous or hospital waste in the area; Provided covers for all the garbage trucks to prevent garbage litters from being blown away; Enforced the rule that prohibits scavenging of waste materials inside the dumpsite; Strict enforcement of the use of personal protective equipment for city workers assigned at the landfill; Reinforced the landfill’s perimeter fence to prevent entry of squatters into the area; and Submitted to the DENR of the city government’s landfill operation manual.
‘Technical’ issues
Cabrera said that the remaining seven violations are more technical in nature, mainly on the issues involving budgetary requirement for the maintenance of the landfill and to ensure that the landfill’s air quality and waste discharges are within environmental standards set by the government.
Among them, she said, would be the need to comply with the recommendation of DENR-EMB 7 for the city government to set aside P50 million in its 2017 budget for the landfill’s management; and to secure a discharge permit to check if the landfill’s effluents (liquid waste or sewage) have conformed with the standards set by the EMB.
According to Cabrera, the city government has started the process for applying a discharge permit with the DENR. It has also requested the assistance of the environmental experts of the University of San Carlos (USC) in monitoring the discharges of the landfill.
The city government is likewise currently processing the requirements that will allow it to put up air monitoring equipment that will analyze and monitor the air quality of the landfill, particularly after residents, schools and business establishments around the area began complaining about the unbearable stench that comes from the landfill.
Cabrera said the city has been working on a system that would minimize the garbage’s stench by covering the garbage with limestone before it is compacted, to be followed by the spraying of insecticide.
Earlier, the EMB-7’s Compliance Evaluation Report noted among the reasons of the foul odor was because there was no soil to cover the waste.
City Hall has estimated that to buy the limestone, locally known as anapog, it would require an annual budget of about P10 million, which is included in the P50 million budget request that will be placed under and managed by the city’s Department of Public Services, said Cabrera.
Strict waste segregation
Cabrera, however, did not say how the city government would address its failure to efficiently operate the leachate plant and landfill glass flaring system, as well as conduct a weekly monitoring of the landfill’s chemical and biological wastes, which was one of the violations cited by EMB-7.
The other violation that are yet to be corrected by the city included its failure to provide an Environmental Guarantee Fund (EGF) to cover for the expenses of teams that will monitor and address the environmental damage that might be related to the dumpsite’s operation.
EMB-7 investigators earlier said that mere verbal complaints from city residents over the low air and water quality around the landfill area would be sufficient grounds for the DENR to suspend or even revoke that environmental compliance certificate (ECC) that was issued to the city government, which authorized it to operate the Inayawan sanitary landfill.
Cabrera said that in order to lessen the stench emanating from the landfill, they have implemented stricter segregation of wastes, specially the biodegradable or compostable ones.
She said that each of the city’s 80 barangays has been required to strictly implement waste segregation to ensure that only biodegradable garbage would no longer end up at the dumpsite and only add to the stench already experienced in the area.
Waste treatment
Cabrera said that the city is now preparing an area within the landfill compound where they will put all the biodegradable or compostable wastes to make it easier for them to treat them with chemicals.
“Nag start nasad tag treat sa atong mga old waste sa landfill (We have also started treating our old waste in the landfill),” Cabrera assured.
The landfill, which is located at the boundary of the cities of Cebu and Talisay, sits right beside the South Road Properties (SRP), a city-initiated 300-hectare reclamation area that has now been transformed into a commercial and high-end residential enclave and which hosts two malls, the Gaisano Capital and the SM
Seaside City, one of the country’s biggest mall complexes.
Last month, a photo of students of the University of Cebu campus in Barangay Mambaling, which is also within a striking distance from the dumpsite, went viral on social media after they were shown donning masks while attending their class because they could no longer stand the foul odor that wafted from the landfill.
The health and environmental risks posed by the landfill, as well as the finding that the dumpsite, which has been operated for almost two decades, has already exceeded its lifespan, formed part of the arguments presented by Garganera while he filed a writ of Kalikasan against Osmeña and officials of both the DENR and EMB in Central Visayas.
A writ of Kalikasan (nature) is a legal remedy under Philippine law for persons whose constitutional right to “a balanced and healthful ecology” is violated by an unlawful act or omission of a public official, employee, or private individual or entity.
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