Dumaguete allocates P20.5-M for sanitary landfill

FILE: City of Dumaguete (Photo by The City of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines – National Historical Commission Website)

DUMAGUETE CITY — The local government of Dumaguete City has allocated PHP20.5 million for the establishment of a sanitary landfill as mandated by law.

Engr. Leonides Caro of the Secretariat of the City Development Council on Monday said the budget is consisted of a previous allocation of PHP5 million taken from the city’s 20 percent Development Fund and the PHP15.5 million the city council recently approved and to be taken from the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund.

To make the appropriation easier, the city council was asked to transfer the funds to the Development Fund instead, Caro said.

Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo had earlier requested the city council for the appropriation of funds for the sanitary landfill.

The establishment of a sanitary landfill is one of Remollo’s priority concerns to address the growing garbage problem in Dumaguete City.

Until today, the city has yet to find an area suitable for a sanitary landfill as its open pit dumpsite in the outskirts barangay of Candau-ay is now outlawed.

Likewise, the volume of garbage is increasing by the day considering the boom in the city’s economy and population.

Remollo and the Technical Working Group (TWG) have been scouting for lots in Valencia, Sibulan, Bacong, Dauin and Zamboanguita to serve as the site of the landfill, said City Information Officer Dems Rey Demecillo.

Should the sites outside of Dumaguete fail to secure the support of the local officials and population, the TWG would have to pursue its plan to utilize a lot in the Candau-ay-Camanjac area, he said.

However, the Candau-ay-Camanjac area is smaller in size and will only be for the sole use of the city and not as earlier proposed as a cluster for the Metro Dumaguete area comprising this capital city and nearby towns.
Caro stressed that it is up to the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to determine which is the most appropriate and suitable site for a landfill.

A representative from the DENR-MGB here has been going with the TWG to the different sites eyed for the sanitary landfill, she added. (PNA)