Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources lauded Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia and other city officials yesterday for the establishment of the sanitary landfill in Brgy. Felisa.
Ignacio, who was at the L’ Fisher Hotel in Bacolod for the Pollution Control Association in the Philippines Convention, said that Bacolod is now included in the five percent of the local government units in the country complying with the Solid Waste Management Act, or Republic Act 9003.
“Establishing a sanitary landfill is not easy, as it is costly and it would be difficult to look for a suitable site for it but he (Leonardia) was able to make it because of his strong political will”, Ignacio said.
He said that they will recommend to other LGU with no sanitary landfill that they visit Bacolod.
In Western Visayas, Bacolod is the sixth LGU to establish a sanitary landfill. Other cities with sanitary landfills are Sipalay, Bago, Cadiz, San Carlos and Sagay, all in Negros Occidental, EMB record show.
Leonardia expressed gratitude for the help extended by the DENR officials while they were in the process of establishing, the sanitary landfill. He said this only shows that the issues hurled against the sanitary landfill by their detractors before, had no basis.
“The P32-million sanitary landfill will be inaugurated Friday and is expected to be a major leap for the environment protection campaign in Bacolod. It will also help ensure the success of the no segregation-no collection drive”, Leonardia said.
The mayor added that the city government plans to establish another sanitary landfill within five years.
Juan Miguel Cuna, Director of the National Environmental Management Bureau, said there are only 40 sanitary landfills operating in the Philippines and 58 others are under construction.
Cuna, however, stressed that this is not enough to solve the problem of residual wastes in the Philippines.
He emphasized that the problem of solid waste management should not be handled by the government alone because under the law, LGUs and the private sectors should work hand-and-hand to solve this problem.
Reports show that, based on the study conducted by the Gale and Columbia Universities in United States on Environmental Protection Index, Philippines ranked 42 out of 132 countries in 2010 from being in the 50th slot in 2009, in terms of improvements toward environmental protection.*APN back
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