Mayor assures city’s compliance with writ on dumpsite closure

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan Wednesday assured that the city government will comply with the order of the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the use of Irisan dumpsite as dumping area and as temporary holding or staging point for wastes saying this has been the city’s ultimate goal.

“We will abide by the court order. That has been our direction – to clear the garbage in the dumpsite and later convert the area into a park – but of course, it can’t be done overnight,” the mayor said.

The SC in a resolution issued January 17 on the petition filed by Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan and other Benguet and Aringay, La Union residents, issued a Writ of Kalikasan and a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) against city officials led by the mayor and concerned city government offices on the use of Irisan dumpsite.

The court ordered the respondents “to cease and desist from making use of the Irisan dumpsite either as a temporary holding/staging area or as a dumping or controlled area for any and all kinds of solid wastes.”

The mayor Monday called an emergency meeting with concerned offices to plot strategies to ensure that waste collection and processing will not be disrupted in the light of the SC ruling.

He said that as part of the new strategies to stop the use of the dumpsite, the city will tap the existing materials recovery facilities in the various barangays to serve as sorting areas and pick-up points where recyclables will be sold and where residuals can be picked up by the Pro Tech Machineries still as part of its contractual obligation to the city.

Biodegradables will still be processed in the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines at the dumpsite, according to the mayor, who maintained that the TEPO only covers the dumpsite’s use as holding/staging area or as dumping or controlled area and does not include the ERS processing of biodegradable wastes.

He said he has instructed the city environment and parks management officer under officer-in-charge CordeliaLacsamana to coordinate closely with the barangays for the use of the MRFs including those in barangays Lualhati, Lourdes Ext. and Irisan for the residual and recyclable wastes.

The mayor assured that the city will do its best to maintain the present waste collection schedule even as he appealed to residents anew to strive more in complying with the segregation policy to avoid complicating the situation.

In the resolution, the SC resolved to refer the case to the Court of Appeals “for acceptance of the comment and return of the writ and for hearing, reception of evidence and rendition of judgment” while it required the respondents to comment on the petition within ten days and “to make a verified return of the writ of Kalikasan before the Court of Appeals…”

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas affirmed that it has been city’s intent to close the dumpsite and convert it into an eco-tourism park.

Farinas who was also named along with the city council members as respondents to the case said that as early as 2009, during one of his terms as acting city mayor, he asked the city council to pursue this direction and which was adopted eventually by the body through Resolution No. 256 series of 2009.

He also cited the string of measures passed by the city council which he said proved their intention to reclaim and rehabilitate the Irisan facility.