Benguet optimistic SC will close Baguio dump

BAGUIO CITY – Residents of nearby Tuba, Benguet and provincial officials are optimistic that the Supreme Court would issue an order closing down the Irisan dump in Baguio City as the petition for a writ of kalikasan against the dump was officially filed with the SC last week.

SC justices are ready to study the merits of the petition, said lawyer Noe Villanueva of the Sanidad and Villanueva Law Office.

Last Dec. 14, Benguet and La Union officials along with the Tuba residents signed the petition asking the SC to order the Baguio City government to finally close down and rehabilitate the Irisan dump.

Benguet officials led by Rep. Ronald Cosalan, joined by National Artist and Tuba councilor Charlie Juloya, and eight residents, submitted the petition.

Cosalan personally brought the petition to the SC after furnishing a copy to Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje.

Villanueva said they are hoping to get a temporary environmental protection order from the SC for the Baguio City government to halt the disposal of garbage at the Irisan dump.

“We hope the SC justices will do what is right,” Villanueva said.

“We want Baguio to sit down with Tuba officials to craft a comprehensive plan on how to face the avalanche problem, not just piecemeal solutions,” Cosalan said.

Last Aug. 27, tons of garbage cascaded from the Irisan dump at the height of typhoon “Mina,” burying alive a sexagenarian woman and three grandchildren and two other residents and contaminating potable water systems.

After receiving copies of the petition, Baguio officials maintained that they are doing their best to avert disastrous situations at the Irisan dump.

A company contracted by the local officials to haul non-biodegradable waste, however, has failed in looking for dumps outside the city.

In Baguio,Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the city government is ready to answer the writ of kalikasan filed by different interest groups and individuals in Benguet and Aringay, La Union once the Supreme Court will issue the corresponding order to clarify issues being raised against the utilization of the Irisan dumpsite as sorting area and transfer station for the city’s non-biodegradable waste.

“We understand the sentiments of the petitioners who filed the writ. We are ready to answer the writ if ordered by the SC,” Domogan said after the city government was furnished a copy of the writ of kalikasan which will still be filed with the High Court.

While the writ will be heard by the SC, the local chief executive cited the city will continue to use the Irisan dumpsite as a sorting are and transfer station for the city’s non-biodegradable waste being hauled out of the city by Pro Tech Machinery Corporation pursuant to its earlier memorandum of agreement with the city government.

“The problem with Pro Tech is that it cannot find a permanent sorting area or transfer station even outside the city because some critics are always following them where ever they go but they are doing their best to comply with their obligation under our contract,” the mayor stressed.

Domogan explained what is prohibited by the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act is the continuous use of the Irisan dumpsite as an open dumpsite but not as a sorting area or transfer station considering that it was given due course by the National Solid Waste Management Commission .

The city mayor said programs of work for the putting up of a super structure that will protect the damaged portion of the Irisan dumpsite was already submitted to the office of Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and is being subjected to review prior to the release of the P110 million committed by the Office of the President for the rehabilitation of the damaged retaining wall to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents in the future that will pose a serious threat to life and limb, especially those below the dumpsite.

The design of the super structure was a collaborative effort of a multi-sectoral technical working group created by Mayor Domogan to ensure that the structure to be erected in the Irisan dumpsite will serve its purpose and will not collapse. Experts from the colleges of engineering of the Saint Louis University University of Baguio and the University of the Cordillera were tapped to be part of the technical working group to ensure that all concerns relative to the construction of the super structure will be satisfactorily addressed.

For his part, Rep. Bernardo M. Vergara said the collapse of a portion of the Irisan dumpsite is not the fault of the city government but it has been classified as force major, thus, it is unfair to totally put the blame to the local government.

“It is unfair to totally put the blame to the city. We are exerting all possible efforts to solve our garbage disposal problem,” Vergara stressed, adding that the city does not want its neighbors to be suffering the consequences of whatever untoward incidents that will happen in the future at the Irisan dumpsite.

“We have to face the writ of kalikasan that was filed by the petitioners. We will rely on whatever the decision of the high tribunal on what to do with the Irisan dumpsite which is no longer being utilized as an open dumpsite,” the veteran lawmaker said. – With a report from Dexter See