Burning hospital waste in Guagua dumpsite at the time of the EMB and ADCL inspection.
File photo
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “A failure.”
That was how Gov. Lilia G. Pineda graded the solid waste management efforts in Pampanga, chiding “most, if not all LGUs” for “indifference and inaction” in solving the garbage problem.
“They did not respond to the call of the government for them to practice sound waste management, particularly on segregation and putting up of material recovery facilities (MRFs),” the governor lamented.
To spur the local chief executives to action, Pineda offered a P3-million subsidy to any LGU that properly implements the solid waste management law.
In a meeting with mayors Monday, Pineda renewed her call for strict compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2002.
This, even as the the cities of San Fernando, and Mabalacat and the towns of Guagua, Porac, Sasmuan, Apalit, Macabebe, Masantol, Minalin and, Sto. Tomas have all been tagged by the Environmental Management Bureau as “in violation of Republic Act Nos. 9003, 9275 and 8749 for the operation of dumpsites directly adjacent to water bodies and where open burning is rampant.”
The findings of the EMB were the results from a series of “on-site investigations” it conducted with the Alliance for the Development of Central Luzon which the latter used in its petition to the Ombudsman to file administrative and criminal cases against the local officials.
Pineda, who has been providing support to the LGUs to cope with their waste management problems, urged the local officials to identify areas for the establishment of MRFs which the Capitol will augment with P3 million subsidy for the construction of the facility and provision of a baling machine.
Last year, the provincial government provided a brand new dump truck to each of the LGUs for the collection and disposal of their garbage.
“The solution to the waste problem in the province lies not only in the hands of the government but also with the cooperation of every household where garbage are coming from. Strict enforcement of waste segregation in every barangay is needed,” Pineda said. “This is where the role of the local officials takes a critical turn.”
In the same meeting at the Executive House, Engr. Arthur Punsalan, chief of the provincial government environment and natural resources office, reported “positive results” from the provincial government’s “coordinative work” with Holcim, a manufacturer of cement that uses plastic in its production process.
Punsalan said Holcim is collecting, free of charge, segregated and baled plastic wastes from the MRFs of Mabalacat City and Porac, the designated pilot areas for the Capitol-Holcim waste disposal project.
This, he said, has lessened for the two LGUs the hauling cost of garbage to the sanitary landfill in Kalangitan, Capas, Tarlac.
“The expensive garbage tipping fee is one of the problems of LGUs. However, if they will establish their own MRF, the bulk of hauled waste in sanitary landfill will be lesser and will cut their budget cost for the transportation,” Punzalan explained.
