WORSENING GARBAGE DISPOSAL

OFFICIALS of Dagupan who continue to fail to respond to the worsening garbage problem of the city are facing not just a possible legal suit but protest action from the public.

Atty. Gonzalo Duque, in his capacity as a private citizen, earlier threatened to file for the Writ of Kalikasan from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in a bid to force officials to act on the worsening garbage problem in the city.

Duque, president of the Dagupan-based Lyceum-Northwestern University and president of the Pangasinan Press Club (PPC), pointed out that many of the city government’s projects such the river cruise, Bangus and Lechon Festivals and proposed projects like the Tsunami Hill and the 24-bed lying-in clinic are “meaningless if the nauseating garbage are piling up in the streets”.

Duque said it is time for officials to act fast or face the wrath of the people.

He conveyed his planned actions to Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez who was guest during the PPC’s Media in Action Forum last week, stressing that all city officials, from the mayor to the barangay officials, are answerable for the worsening garbage mess in the city.

Fernandez, in response, said the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), which the vice mayor chairs, already passed environmental and sanitation codes, but the city executive is not implementing these.

Moreover, Fernandez said that when she was acting mayor two weeks ago, she ordered the return of garbage extracted from the dumpsite to the source. The city government had earlier entered into an agreement to deliver the garbage to be used to backfill two private properties in Bonuan Boquig.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources declared this a violation of Republic Act 9003, the Ecological and Solid Waste Management Act

However, when Mayor Benjamin Lim returned from a private trip in Switzerland, he nullified Fernandez’s order and defended the dumping of extracted garbage to the private lots of Barangay Bonuan Binloc chairman Pedro Gonzales and Beatriz Reyes.

BARANGAY FUND

Fernandez indicated she also wants the city executive to transfer part of the budget of the Waste Management Division (WMD) to the barangays, particularly those which have no material recovery facility and vehicle to transport garbage.

She lamented that the P3.1 million appropriated by the SP in April for the purchase of motorcycle and receptacle or garong per barangay has yet to be released for lack of funds although the outlay was approved based on a certification from the treasury and budget offices that funds were available.

Duque pointed out that when barangay officials have practically no place to dump their garbage in view of the worsening situation at the open dumpsite in Bonuan, what the city needs in the long term is an alternative site for the garbage.

Citing his own Barangay Tapuac where garbage is piling up on the streets, Duque urged officials to negotiate with Urdaneta City, which has a sanitary landfill that is open for use by other towns and cities for a fee.

Duque cited that other towns such as Sta. Barbara are already using the Urdaneta facility.

The local government of San Carlos has also vowed to put up its own sanitary landfill and Lingayen is negotiating to use of the facility.

AWAI LAND

Duque also brought up the issue of Awai land in San Jacinto, a 30-hectare lot Dagupan bought in 2002 for P16 million, supposedly as the site for its sanitary landfill.

Duque challenged the SP to go to court against those responsible for the city’s failure to take possession of the land, which has been placed under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) and distributed among original tenants.

Fernandez committed that she will ask the General Service Officer (GSO) of the city to produce the title or Tax Declaration of the Awai land, if there is any, and establish whether the Awai land is actually owned by Dagupan.

At the same time, Fernandez asked the mayor to stop pointing to “politics” for the Awai fiasco and instead take concrete steps to regain the property, which was bought under Lim’s administration or to ask the vendor of the land, Jose Mariano Cuna, to return the P16 million paid by the city for the land.

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