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[av_heading heading=’ Mayor seek more time to build sanitary landfill’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – The establishment of a sanitary landfill is a priority, according to the new mayor of Isabela, Negros Occidental.
But he will ask the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to give his local government more time.
Mayor Joselito Malabor fears charges if his local government fails to comply with Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
He succeeded Mayor Enrique Montilla III who died of cardiac arrest two weeks ago.
Isabela’s compliance with the mandate to put up a sanitary landfill was “long overdue,” the new mayor stressed.
The town has no funds, however. Malabor plans seeking a loan.
“We have to show the DENR that we have a budget and a plan and we will implement it,” stressed the mayor.
The previous administration put up a dumpsite, Malabor said.
But this is the opposite of what the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act mandates local governments to do.
Open dumps must be closed and sanitary landfills must be developed in lieu of them, a provision of the law stated.
Open dumps and sanitary landfills are among the three types of land disposals, the other being controlled dumps, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a module on transitioning from open dumps to landfills.
Open dumps are generally “unplanned” and entail the least cost requirement and thus the most prevalent among the three, UNEP said.
They are “haphazardly operated,” and have “no controls over waste inputs, either in quantity or composition (or both)” and “over emissions of pollutants released due to waste decomposition,” it said.
Sanitary landfills, on the other hand, have a “planned capacity” and are “designed by cell development,” UNEP said. They involve “disposal only at designated cells” and have “full leachate and gas management.”
Adjacent cities and municipalities may use the sanitary landfill in Isabela once it is completed, Malabor said.
MORE PROJECTS
Meanwhile the mayor also promised to prioritize the water system and public health and education, and to continue Montilla’s unfinished projects, including those on poverty reduction and trade, and scholarship.
Rep. Alejando Mirasol (5th District) promised to help build 16 to 20 high school classrooms in the town, Malabor said.
Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. also pledged P15 million for various projects on top of the P35 million worth of projects capitol promised through Malabor’s nephew, Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Renato Malabor Jr., said the mayor.
Feasibility studies on various projects will be conducted soon, said Mayor Malabor./PN
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