More towns want to host Baguio garbage landfill

By Dexter A. See

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Officials of several towns in Benguet adjacent to Baguio are willing to host the city’s engineered sanitary landfill provided terms and conditions will be beneficial to all concerned parties.

This was disclosed by some provincial officials after the municipality of Tubao, La Union signified its intention to be the host of Baguio’s sanitary landfill to enable them to comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and earn additional income.

Instead of going to La Union, Benguet officials told Baguio officials to consider the towns of Itogon, Tuba, Sablan and La Trinidad as the site for its engineered sanitary landfill to help local governments comply with the solid waste management law.

Earlier, several villages in Itogon and Tuba, Benguet passed separate resolutions strongly opposing the planned construction of the city’s sanitary landfill in their places because of its supposedly serious negative effects on the health of the people and the state of environment.

But concerned provincial and municipal officials argued there is a need for Baguio and its neighboring Benguet towns to complement each other in governance so their problems, especially in collection and disposal of solid waste, would be jointly addressed.

The provincial government of Benguet, upon endorsement of the Regional Development Council secured financial aid from the Korean International Cooperation Agency amounting to $80 million for a feasibility study on establishment of a sanitary landfill in the province.

But officials said the feasibility study on the landfill will consider solid waste management needs of Baguio City.

For this reason, the city government should be willing to cooperate with the programs and activities of the people tasked to conduct the study.

One of the requirements for the establishment of an engineered sanitary landfill in a certain area is its social acceptability by the communities within and around the landfill site.

The past eight years, the Baguio government had been searching for a permanent site where it could already set up its sanitary landfill to address the worsening garbage crisis in the city.

In the case of Aringay, La Union, the municipal officials withdrew the proposal to host Baguio’s landfill project due to tremendous pressure exerted by various sectors of the town.
Benguet officials appealed to Baguio leaders that they go back to the drawing board to iron out the issues and concerns about the planned establishment of the city’s sanitary landfill.