IT’S EARTH DAY today and who would give us something green to talk about but Mabalacat Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales.
It is for the good of the Kapampangan that the provincial government should seriously heed the green alarm Boking recently sounded.
At last week’s meeting of the Pampanga Development Council, Boking strongly enjoined the Capitol to consider the establishment of landfills for the province.
This, according to Boking, will be more beneficial for the province, as it would provide more accessible and affordable means of disposing the province’s ballooning garbage, in the face of the fears earlier expressed by the Environment Management Board (EMB) that garbage generation in the province may soon reach an alarming state.
While Pampanga produced some 745 tons of wastes daily in 2007, the EMB said this rose to 1,696 tons in 2008 due to what it called “ineffective local waste management programs.” This year the EMB projects an average waste generation of 5,179 tons, more than 300 percent than that of 2008.
Boking has proposed the establishment of a “generalized system” of garbage collection to help other municipalities cope with their waste management problems and put an end to the use of open dumpsites.
Speaking from experience where Mabalacat spends millions each year for the disposal of the town’s residual wastes, the mayor said that exorbitant prices of landfills outside the province have been a major headache of town officials.
“If we set up our own landfill, we can very well dictate the price of the landfill use and provide a more accessible way to dump our residual wastes,” he said. And the provincial government can well afford to fund a landfill, what with its immense quarry collection accruing to its coffers.
Of course, the establishment of material recovery facilities (MRFs) in all towns to sort out recyclables so that only residual wastes would end up in the landfills is an integral part of Boking’s recommendations.
“We need to set up at least two landfills for Pampanga. This will also generate local employment and if we strengthen our MRFs in the respective towns, we can be assured that no other harmful waste will lead to the landfills,” Boking said.
Boking’s proposal comes at a critical point in the light of Republic Act 9003,or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which mandated the closure of all open dumpsites in the country by the end of 2007. A total 19 dumpsites still reportedly operating in Pampanga makes a mockery of that law.
May the lords of the Capitol take Boking’s call. Earnestly and sincerely now.
And yes, Angeles City Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno can get some nuggets of thought from Boking’s proposal with his city barred from dumping its wastes at the Kalangitan sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac owing to debts that soared to P60 million.
Perhaps Mister Blue could have some mind shift by considering a landfill instead of a sports complex for the hoped-for loan of P680 million. And the people of Angeles – including future mayor Tony Mamac of Balibago – would love him for this.
It is for the good of the Kapampangan that the provincial government should seriously heed the green alarm Boking recently sounded.
At last week’s meeting of the Pampanga Development Council, Boking strongly enjoined the Capitol to consider the establishment of landfills for the province.
This, according to Boking, will be more beneficial for the province, as it would provide more accessible and affordable means of disposing the province’s ballooning garbage, in the face of the fears earlier expressed by the Environment Management Board (EMB) that garbage generation in the province may soon reach an alarming state.
While Pampanga produced some 745 tons of wastes daily in 2007, the EMB said this rose to 1,696 tons in 2008 due to what it called “ineffective local waste management programs.” This year the EMB projects an average waste generation of 5,179 tons, more than 300 percent than that of 2008.
Boking has proposed the establishment of a “generalized system” of garbage collection to help other municipalities cope with their waste management problems and put an end to the use of open dumpsites.
Speaking from experience where Mabalacat spends millions each year for the disposal of the town’s residual wastes, the mayor said that exorbitant prices of landfills outside the province have been a major headache of town officials.
“If we set up our own landfill, we can very well dictate the price of the landfill use and provide a more accessible way to dump our residual wastes,” he said. And the provincial government can well afford to fund a landfill, what with its immense quarry collection accruing to its coffers.
Of course, the establishment of material recovery facilities (MRFs) in all towns to sort out recyclables so that only residual wastes would end up in the landfills is an integral part of Boking’s recommendations.
“We need to set up at least two landfills for Pampanga. This will also generate local employment and if we strengthen our MRFs in the respective towns, we can be assured that no other harmful waste will lead to the landfills,” Boking said.
Boking’s proposal comes at a critical point in the light of Republic Act 9003,or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which mandated the closure of all open dumpsites in the country by the end of 2007. A total 19 dumpsites still reportedly operating in Pampanga makes a mockery of that law.
May the lords of the Capitol take Boking’s call. Earnestly and sincerely now.
And yes, Angeles City Mayor Francis “Blueboy” Nepomuceno can get some nuggets of thought from Boking’s proposal with his city barred from dumping its wastes at the Kalangitan sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac owing to debts that soared to P60 million.
Perhaps Mister Blue could have some mind shift by considering a landfill instead of a sports complex for the hoped-for loan of P680 million. And the people of Angeles – including future mayor Tony Mamac of Balibago – would love him for this.
