By XENIA RIBAYA
ABS-CBN Baguio
Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. has bared plans to establish Clark in Pampanga or Naguillan in La Union province as an alternative dumping site for Baguio City's garbage. He, however, said that officials of these two areas have yet to agree on the proposal.
“We are yet to convince officials of Clark and/or Naguillan. I hope they give consideration to us,” said Bautista.
This was after residents of the nearby municipalities Tuba, Itogon, Sablan and La Trinidad opposed Baguio’s proposal of establishing new dumpsites in their areas.
Meanwhile, Bautista rejected Baguio City Congressman Mauricio Domogan’s suggestion of re-opening the Irisan dumpsite since the city has been left with no other choice.
“We will just re-open the Irisan dumpsite if its retaining walls are already fixed. A total of 1.5 million will be spent by the city for its rehabilitation,”
explained Bautista.
Hazards
In less than a month, the dumpsite’s height climbed to 100 meters from its baseline. Authorities declared it as a hazardous indication, adding that the dumpsite should no longer be operating since it exceeded its 95-meter maximum capacity limit.
They added that waterways are already covered with mountain-like garbage that could trigger flashfloods. The lack of Material Recovery Facilities or MRFs at Irisan dumpsite even compounded the problem of at least 500 waste-pickers.
Weeks ago, Tuba and Baguio residents barricaded the entrance of Irisan dumpsite as part of their crusade for its total closure.
Locals stressed that authorities cannot blame them for doing such acts of condemnation since they are the ones directly affected by the ill-effects of the overflowing garbage in the dumpsite.
The local government and the City Environment and Parks Management (CEPMO) earlier campaigned for the strict observation of its Zero Waste Management Program, but the matter got out of hand.
At present, the city’s daily garbage collection is being dumped in a government-owned lot near the dumpsite for processing and transportation.
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