MORE than seventy scavengers have appealed to Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez not to totally close the dumpsite in Barangay Bonuan-Boquig.

Bonnie, not his real name, said his family household, composed of 16 individuals, earn a living from scavenging wastes in the dumpsite.

He said before the Environment and Management Bureau (EMB) served the closure order to the city’s open dumpsite, each scavenger was earning from P150 to P300 daily mostly from picking plastic wastes and tin cans.

“Nag-asin na lang po kami kanina, kahit nagbigay ng bigas bilang ayuda ang city government, ay wala kaming ibang pagkukunan ng ibang kailangan namin araw-araw. Pabor naman po kami na maipasara itong dumpsite pero sana mabigyan kami ng ibang pagkakakitaan, wala naman kaming ibang mapasukan na trabaho dahil wala naman kaming natapos,” Bonnie said.

The scavengers appealed to the city government for financial assistance to enable them to start a new livelihood like putting up a sari-sari store or wait to be hired for the operation of the Material Recovery Facility of the city government.

Thirty families residing near the dumpsite have since been relocated in the city government’s housing project in Sitio Korea also in Barangay Bonuan Binloc.

Affected residents most of them are children suffered from respiratory infection such as asthma and allergies are assisted with medical attention from the City Health Office. (Nora Dominguez)

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