Baguio council lets mayor sign MOA with landfill operators due to Urdaneta dump closure

By Gaby B. Keith

BAGUIO CITY -- The city council in its regular session March 8, passed a resolution authorizing Mayor Benjamin Magalong to represent the city and enter into a memorandum of agreement with Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. or other entities offering engineered sanitary landfill   services at lower cost and closer to the city to be used as its repository area of residual wastes.
    The move came after the mayor’s urgent request upon learning the sanitary landfill the Summer Capital was using in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan and operated by Urdaneta Waste Management was recently shut down.
    City General Services Office head Eugene Buyucan said the Metro Clark company operates and manages a sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac that was used by the city for several years before transferring to the Urdaneta facility.
    The transfer, he said, was prompted by the cheaper  tipping fees charged by the Urdaneta Waste company per ton of garbage as compared to that of Metro Clark. 
    The Urdaneta landfill is also nearer which means Baguio spends much less in hauling charges.
    “The savings realized by the city when it was using the Urdaneta facility as compared to that in Capas, Tarlac was very significant,” Buyucan said.
    Should the city enter into an agreement with Metro Waste Management, he urged it be on a monthly basis only.
    “This will make it easier for the city to transfer if it finds a landfill facility that offers cheaper tipping fees and is nearer,” Buyucan said.
    Baguio’s original landfill at Irisan barangay was closed due to a Writ of Kalikasan—an environmental protection order -- issued by the Supreme Court and is now being transformed into an eco-park as part of the city’s environment protection program, he said.
    Buyucan said Baguio produces  an average 180 tons of garbage per day before the coronavirus 2019 struck. 
    It’s now down to around 150 tons daily under the pandemic, he said.
     Resolution No. 118, series of 2021 cited  on Jan. 11, 2019, the city government entered into a MOA with Urdaneta Waste Management on the use of the latter’s ESL as disposal field of the city’s residual wastes for three years from Jan. 1, 2019 to Dec. 31, 2021.
    On March 5, however, the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau shuttered the Urdaneta Waste Management facility after cease and desist order from its central office due to violations.
    “Due to the closure of the Urdaneta Waste Management facility, the city government of Baguio must immediately look for a new repository or disposal facility for its residual wastes to avoid piling up which may lead to serious health and environmental concerns,” the resolution stated.
    Any agreement entered into by the mayor on the matter is subject to legislative confirmation.