Law suit looming over Calajunan dumpsite

ILOILO CITY—Environmental group, Global Legal Action on Climate Change is warning City Hall it could be sued for maintaining an open dumpsite despite the ban.
Unfazed, Mayor Jerry Trenas said that the City will not close the dumpsite in Brgy. Calajunan, Mandurriao district, adding that it has the nod of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“It’s okay with me. We will just answer the complaint,” the Mayor said in a text message.
The local chapter of GLACC wrote Trenas, reminding him of the prohibition against open dumpsites under Republic Act 9003, a nine-year-old law governing the disposal of solid wastes in the country.
“We have observed that our City has not complied with the provisions of the Law on Solid Waste Management: Maintenance of an Open Dumpsite at Brgy. Calajunan, Mandurriao, Iloilo City since 2001 despite the enactment and passage of RA 9003,” the GLACC-Iloilo chapter said in its July 7, 2009 letter to Trenas.
“We respectfully request that you take measures to correct the situation within thirty (30) days from receipt of this letter,” the group further said in its letter. The 30-day period ticked off July 8 this year, when the Office of the Mayor received the letter.
The letter, respectful it may be of Trenas, warned the mayor “that should no serious effort be taken by your Office to correct the situation we will indorse the matter to the Office of the Environmental Ombudsman for its appropriate action and we will also file appropriate actions before competent Court to compel your Office to comply with the provisions of RA 9003.”
Copies of the letter were furnished the Sangguniang Panlungsod, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office 6, the Office of the Environmental Ombudsman, and the punong barangay of Calajunan, where the City had been maintaining its open dumpsite for several years already.
At the same time, the GLACC is also requesting DENR to monitor City Hall’s compliance, and to submit to them a report on the extent of the City’s compliance with the Solid Waste Management Act.
The letter is a follow up on the earlier request by the group on the different government agencies for the enforcement of the country’s environmental laws, which highlighted the local celebration of the World Environment Day last June 5.

CITY HALL NOT BALKING

The Mayor, described by his critics as lacking in political will, would not give in to the demand of GLACC.
“The DENR has given its nod for the continued operation of the dumpsite,” the Mayor said. “It’s okay with me, we’ll just answer that,” he stressed.
“If the court orders us to close down the dumpsite, then that’s not going to be a problem, we will stop collecting garbage; or if they want, we’ll give to them the garbage we have collected,” Trenas jested.
What the GLACC does not understand, he said, is the immensity of the task and the cost involved in converting the open dumpsite into a sanitary landfill.
Thirty-days is just too little a time for us to convert it into a sanitary landfill, he said.
The City’s Solid Waste Management Board is in the thick of preparing a technical report and plans for the construction of a sanitary landfill in a 5-hectare portion of the Calajunan dumpsite. The German aid agency GTZ is helping the City in preparing the plans for the construction of sanitary landfill.
At present, the mountains of garbage in the Calajunan dumpsite is gradually covered with earth, Trenas said. It’s now a ‘transition dumpsite’
Moreover, the mayor mentioned the financial requirements for the construction of a sanitary landfill. For every hectare, around P50-70 million is needed. “And we’re going to need about five hectares,” he pointed out
At the same time, the Mayor defended his administration’s gains in dealing with solid waste, saying that the City’s Solid Waste Management Board was awarded the best for Visayas region.
The DENR is a member of the SWMB; and to GLACC’s request on the environment agency to monitor the City’s compliance, the mayor sees no problem.
“The DENR is a member of SWMB, they know what the City is doing,” Trenas said. By Ronilo Ladrido Pamonag