Cebu City must look for another landfill

For our special presentation on our talkshow on Straight from the Sky tonight we bring you the 29th anniversary of the Bukas Loob sa Diyos (Cebu) Catholic Charismatic Covenanted Community. It was in 1989 when BLD came to Cebu and back then, there were very few Charismatic organizations helping the Catholic Church and its faithful. I joined the BLD in 1998 when I took a marriage encounter, but frankly speaking what transformed me into the faith was when I took the Life of the Spirit Seminar because it truly introduced me to the Holy Spirit, that it was truly and really active in my life and the lives of many people and not just a Bible character.

So tonight to bring you the history and what the BLD is in our community in Cebu, we have Greg Tecson who is a servant disciple of BLD, we have Nel Tesalona anniversary coordinator, Rudy Villanobos who coordinates Jubilarians, and retired police general Mariano “Jun” Natuel Jr. The theme for this anniversary is “Growing stronger in faith through Jesus.” The anniversary celebration will be held at the Hoops Dome, Lapu-Lapu City, on September 16.

So watch this interesting discussion on what the BLD is for Cebuanos tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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The Supreme Court has ruled that the closure of the Inayawan landfill should be “final and executory.” This judgment means that Cebu City can no longer dump garbage there. This case came about when Cebu City still continued to use the landfill despite the fact that it was already filled up.

Mind you, I was in the Regional Development Council-7 when we created this landfill because Cebu City did not have such facility. But frankly speaking I never thought that I’d see the day when that landfill would be filled to the brim and no longer useful. Our whole problem really is, when we had the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, Cebu City sat on its laurels believing it will take centuries to fill up. Clearly Cebu City did not research on how long the landfill will be filled up so they could find another sanitary landfill.

Long ago, I already got hold of how Taipei and Japan dispose of their waste and it is through a “Waste-to-Power” system that I saw for myself. But no one cared enough to get serious in finding a replacement for the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill. So with this SC judgment, Cebu City is hard-pressed to find another place to dump our garbage.

I understand that this case stemmed from a petition filed by Councilor Joel Garganera for the Writ of Kalikasan that he filed against Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Engineer William Cunado, officer-in-charge of the Environmental Management Bureau-7; and Emma Melana, chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7, before the CA. On December 15, 2016, the CA granted the Writ of Kalikasan Garganera filed that prevented the city from dumping its garbage in the landfill. This is why this was brought to the SC which has now issued this judgment against Cebu City.

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It is with deep sadness for me to announce the passing of my uncle, the late Engr. Salvador “Tio Boy” Segura, the younger brother of my mother Ascension and Colonel Manuel F. Segura, and the fourth son of Captain Valeriano Jamala Segura who died in the Battle of Bataan. Since his father was a graduate of Purdue University, Indiana (because while he topped West Point, he was an inch too short of regulation height), his classmates and school made a scholarship for Purdue graduates to study in Purdue and Tio Boy was chosen to study there and graduated in Purdue U. He returned home to work in Procter and Gamble. He came home to Cebu to retire here. He is survived by his children, Mary Ann de los Angeles, Cynthia Tayao, Cathy Tañedo, and May Ybañez. May we request the pious reader to please pray for the repose of his soul.

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