Baguio undecided on garbage landfill; execs hit for huge haul costs

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government is still undecided on the final site where to set up its long overdue sanitary landfill even as the city government is still being criticized by residents for huge hauling costs and for not coming up with a solution to the mess sooner.

Earlier, Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr. announced a three-hectare lot owned by the city government in Barangay Sto. Tomas was being considered as landfill site as recommended by a technical working group.

Aside from the Sto. Tomas site, which is being endorsed by most city officials, four other possible areas for the city’s engineered sanitary landfill are the Antamok open pit in Itogon within the mining concession of Benguet Corp.; a private lot in Barangay Virac, Itogon, Benguet; a private lot in Palali, Sablan; and another private lot in Poyopoy, Tuba town.

Bautista said the technical working group’s recommendation would serve as the basis for the city’s choice of the sanitary landfill site.

The Environmental Management Bureau in the Cordillera earlier issued to the city a final warning about its continuous failure to comply with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Breaking his long silence on the city’s choice of a sanitary landfill site, the mayor said he is inclined to choose the Sto. Tomas site because it is city-owned and within the metes and bounds of the city. Because it is near, the cost of transporting the tons of waste from the different barangays would be cheaper, he said.

Bautista said that with the Sto. Tomas property, the city need not bother other local government units regarding the social acceptability of the landfill. He noted that the Sto. Tomas property does not encounter stiff opposition from the community.

However, he said that one drawback of the Sto. Tomas site was its size, only three hectares, but a sanitary landfill need not be large.

The technical working group reported that for road improvement alone, the Antamok site would require an appropriation of RR185 million, and the Virac site, P163 million.

The proposed Palali site needs P65 million, while the Tuba site entails P146 million.
The report added the Sto. Tomas sanitary landfill site requires only P60 million for road improvement.

The city’s chief executive said the minimal cost of constructing the facility in Sto. Tomas and the lack of opposition by the community are two important things to consider in the selection of the city’s permanent landfill site.

On waste disposal, the city government will be pursuing the establishment of 18 materials recovery facilities and the purchase of six big dump trucks capable of loading 10 to 12 tons of garbage each to boost the city’s solid waste-management program.