[ Manila Bulletin Online ] August 14, 2008
By MIKE GUIMBATAN JR.
BAGUIO CITY – Baguio Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. announced that he will allot P30 million for the purchase of an area for a landfill facility.
The mayor disclosed the plan for the purchase of a landfill lot as this city continues to experience its worst garbage crisis.
The problem loomed last July 14 when people residing near the decommissioned Irisan landfill barricaded the gate and prevented the entry of dump trucks.
Mayor Bautista, in a move to solve the garbage crisis, contracted a private hauler to transport the accumulated garbage to Capas, Tarlac starting last July 31 at a cost of R5,000 per ton of garbage.
The Irisan dumpsite was supposedly to be closed last January, but the city government failed to allocate a budget for a sanitary landfill.
A landowner in Tuba, Benguet offered some 20 hectares of land on Marcos Highway as site for the new garbage facility. The Carantes family in Itogon also renewed its offer to sell a lot with area of some 10-20 hectares as dumpsite.
But the city officials have to secure social acceptability of the landfill facility from affected communities.
Meanwhile, some two hectares of lot reserved for a housing project for City Hall employees is being considered as a temporary dumpsite.
The administration of the Philippine Military Academy also offered to accommodate biodegradable wastes.
Mayor Bautista said that "all options are being considered and worked out by the city’s waste management team led by City Administrator Peter Fianza, the city council’s committee on public works chairman Councilor Antonio Tabora Jr. and by the city council to achieve the city’s immediate goal to reduce wastes and ultimately to locate a suitable site for a sanitary landfill as a long-term solution."
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