Dumaguete can now push its sanitary landfill project

DENR-7 issues assessment report

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 7 had released its assessment report on the proposed sanitary landfill (SLF) in Dumaguete City, which shows the project passed the requirements and can be carried out.

Mayor Felipe Remollo reported that the site assessment of EMB-7 Regional Director William Cunado allayed apprehensions of residents, surrounding the proposed location, about the perceived threat to health, lives and properties.

The EMB-7 report dispels disinformation and misinformation about the so-called negative effects to the residents of two affected barangays—Candau-ay and Camanjac—according to the mayor.

In the environmental assessment report, the proposed SLF site in Candau-ay has complied seven of 13 parameters, which means that the project can be implemented, while the remaining six will have to wait for an assessment from the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau.

Remollo said that, even without the results of the six remaining parameters, the city’s proposed site for its SLF has already “passed the requirements with flying colors.”

The first requirement that was successfully complied is that proposed site has no confined aquifers—such as deep wells within one kilometer—and that the SLF shall be a minimum 50 meters away from any potential stream, lake or river.

The proposed SLF site is situated about 215 meters away from the nearest surface of water, which is the Okoy river-Malaunay spillway downstream classified as Class B. Field investigators noted that the nearest water supply is located at Barangay Camanjac, which is more than a kilometer away from the site. It also passed the topography, terrain, slope and distance requiments and that surrounding lots had been classified as small and medium scale industrial.

Remollo had ealier belied reports the 32 households of Bloomington housing community is so close to the site. He said a 1.5-hectare lot, owned by the Little Children of the Philippines that is planted with trees, is situated nearby, portion of which is used by homeowners to breed pigs. Nearby is another 1-hectare dry river bed that can be planted with bamboo trees as additional buffer.

The EMB team received a letter from the Orphanage-Batang Calabnugan Inc., represented by Flora Aguit expressing their opposition but the same is situated more than 700 meters away from the site while the requirement is 250 meters from existing or proposed residential, commercial or urban development areas.

The site also passed the requirement—that the site shall not be located within 500 meters of the boundaries of ecologically protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS)—because Tañon Strait is 10 kilometers from it, and is about five kilometers from the airport in Sibulan, consistent with the current land use classification plan that it must not be located within three kilometers of the airport.

Other requirements include a life span for the landfill to accommodate wastes for a period of five years with a provision for expansion. Based on a 3-hectare area, the proposed site  is capable of accommodating garbage for five years as long as its landfill engineering design will cater more than five years of municipal waste.

The city government says its lifespan can be extended through proper waste management practices to include segregation at source, waste diversion, recycling, reuse, among others. And lastly, it has complied with the haul distance, accessibility and road conditions.

The MGB-7 report also recommended that, before the operation of the SLF, it must apply for an environmental compliance certificate.

Reacting to the EMB assessment report, lawyer Joel Obar, founding chairman of the Peoples Solidarity Federal Party and also an environmentalist, said that if oppositions would want to contest the findings, they have to come up with another scientific finding.

But for now, Obar believes the city is in the right direction and that the requirements are “compliable.” The city is now in a better position to proceed with the SLF project, and that it’s high time for everybody to be part of the solution in solving the city’s garbage problem, he added. (FREEMAN)