BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - Protesting residents have blocked the Irisan dumpsite here since Monday and city officials here are now trying to find an alternate site.
The protesters have justified their move saying that an earlier appeal to stop dumping at Irisan was ignored by city officials.
Barangay officials here have requested their constituents to gather their segregated garbage at their homes while officials are finding solution to the crisis.
Barangay chairman Horacio Willy of Pinsao Proper - for example - not only told his community to keep their garbage but advised those with backyard lots to compost their biodegradable wastes.
The protesters, who initiated their action on Monday, were Irisan residents and members of other affected communities in the downstream sitio of Tadiangan in adjacent Tuba, Benguet.
A Tuba councilor said legally, the affected residents and downstream communities have all the right to protest because Irisan dumpsite is mandated by law to have been closed as of January 2008.
On Tuesday, the protesters continued to hold the line despite heavy rains.
They are also asking Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr to visit the dump site.
Meanwhile, garbage trucks remained idle while city officials tried to convince picketers to allow the trucks to dispose their haul.
The city mayor is mulling the possibility of using the City Camp lagoon as temporary site but the idea, this early, has been met with strong opposition from residents.
For his part, City Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia went on air and appealed for cooperation, saying that the council was in the process of sealing an agreement for a sanitary land fill in nearby Itogon municipality.
Last year, the city began converting the dumpsite into a controlled dump facility.
A contractor - Asia Envirocon - was tasked to rehabilitate the area.
Drainage canals, installation of leacheate ponds, gas vents and construction of perimeter fences are among the programs of work assigned to the contractor.
However, a slight downpour of rain in early May caused a garbage spill which clogged the river along kilometer 5 and 8 at Asin road.
The spillage was caused by the clogging of the drainage canal with garbage believed to have come from the Irisan dump site but City Administrator Peter Fianza described the spill as "minor," adding that some of the scattered garbage came from the Alta Verde subdivision. - GMANews.TV