DENR closes, opens dumpsite as trash woes hound Baguio

BAGUIO CITY – The Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources closed, then opened the Irisan garbage dumpsite here within a span of two weeks even as the trash problem of this summer capital has yet to be sufficiently addressed.  

“In view of the city government of Baguio’s word to comply with the Court of Appeals ruling dated August 10, 2012 which ordered the closure of the Irisan dumpsite and declared a Consent Decree between the parties and to better enforce the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, the DENR-Cordillera Administrative Region  hereby grants the prayer for the relief of the temporary closure order recently issued by this Office over Irisan dumpsite effective July 1, 2019, the DENR-CAR said in a statement.

The statement said the relief of the order was granted provided all accumulated stored mixed waste materials or raw compost mixed with plastics are hauled out of the area; that all equipment or machines to be used in converting raw compost into organic fertilizers are installed and operationalized; that only biodegradable wastes are collected in the area; and that no residual waste is stored in the area.

The DENR said all of these shall be complied with not later than July 31, 2019.

The conversion of the Irisan dumpsite into an environmentally-friendly eco-park should also be finished not later than December 31, 2019, the DENR statement said.

On June 26, the DENR-CAR issued a temporary closure order to the city government of Baguio for its failure to implement Item 2 of Case No. CA-G.R. SP No. 00006 consent decree, specifically, the transformation and establishment of an environment-friendly eco-park at the Irisan dumpsite area, and the stoppage of all activities which may hamper, defeat or contradict such.

The city government was also found in violation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and its implementing rules and regulations for causing or permitting the collection of non-segregated or unsorted wastes.

The city government, through General Services Office head Eugene Buyucan, said it has yet to carry out its obligation to convert and establish the area of the Irisan dumpsite into an eco-park.

               According to him, an Irisan dumpsite eco-park development plan was submitted to the Court of Appeals on April 24.

              Funding, amounting to P10,000,000 has been allocated by the city government for implementation of such.

However, Buyucan said plans of an eco-park in the area could not be immediately pushed through due to accumulated raw compost in the area and the fact that the soil therein is loose.

It has to be made sure that the soil is stable before the plan for an ecological park in the area is implemented, he added.

On the issue of unsegregated wastes, Buyucan admitted biodegradable wastes collected are wrapped in plastic containers.

He claimed that this malpractice has been addressed by hiring casual employees responsible for removing plastic containers and other non-biodegradable wastes mixed in the collected garbage.

The DENR, through its legal division and its Environmental Management Bureau-CAR, shall closely monitor the compliance of the city government to conditions set by the DENR-CAR.

EMB-CAR being the DENR’s line bureau primarily responsible in overseeing local government units’ implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act shall also monitor the situation in the dumpsite to ensure hazardous conditions and health risks to people working and living near the area are averted, which EMB Regional Director Ma. Victoria Abrera stated in a letter addressed to then-mayor Mauricio Domogan dated June 26, 2018.

The DENR-CAR will also work closely with the City Government of Baguio for any technical assistance it may offer, especially on the establishment of an eco-park in the Irisan dumpsite area.

The Temporary Closure Order and the lifting of the same was signed by DENR-CAR’s Regional Executive Director in accordance with Department Administrative Order No. 2018-18 entitled “Establishing a centralized management and coordinative mechanism at the Regional Offices of DENR, MGB and EMB, and designating the DENR Regional Director as the Regional Executive Director providing overall command of operations to the Regional Executive Director” which took effect on September 2018.