DUMAGUETE CITY – More than 1,200 residents of Barangay Camanjac in Dumaguete City, the provincial capital of Negros Oriental, submitted on Thursday their position paper vehemently opposing the site of the proposed sanitary landfill in their neighborhood.
The document was submitted to the office of Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo, the Dumaguete City Council, and Gregorio Oira, the village captain of Candauay, where the proposed sanitary landfill site crosses boundary with Camanjac.
Merilyn Kays, the group’s leader, said many residents have signified their intention to affix their signature in another batch of petition of the same nature.
The petitioners, in their position paper, said they have a “strong objection to the choice of sanitary landfill” that the city government will build on a three-hectare lot owned by Frank Divinagracia and his wife.
They added that while they are not against the idea of the construction of a sanitary landfill per se, they are concerned with the “existing guidelines” on the suitability of sites for the said garbage disposal facility.
They cited the National Solid Waste Management Commission Resolution No. 64, s. of 2013; Section 40 of Republic Act 9003, and Rule XIV of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9003.
“These national guidelines prescribe the minimum considerations and have 13 specific parameters with corresponding exclusion and conditional criteria that must be fully satisfied and complied with,” the residents added.
“Exclusion criteria are requirements that must be fully and absolutely satisfied, while conditional criteria are remedial criteria that could render a site suitable if siting considerations are complied with or mitigating measures are implemented,” the position paper read.
The signatories also raised some questions over the proposed establishment of a sanitary landfill in the area, such as whether there has been a “thorough study conducted subjecting the proposed site to each of these 13 parameters and that the result revealed that the site has not failed to satisfy or comply with the exclusion and conditional criteria.”
They doubted whether environmental and safety studies have been conducted by the city in coordination with the Environmental Management Bureau and the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
They also sought clarification whether there has been a prior approval of the proposed site by the DENR and whether stakeholders’ consultations, especially in the affected barangays of Candauay and Camanjac, have been conducted, but the city decided to buy the lot for the sanitary landfill.
Another concern that the petitioners raised is that the proposed site is close to the Okoy River hence, is “dangerous if flooding occurs because the deluge of water flowing to the city will not just be pure violent streams but will also carry with it a torrent of garbage and other types of wastes.”
Residents are “alarmed” by the proximity of the proposed site to the river because of its history of flooding incidence in the area, and they say that the place will be very “susceptible” to more flooding with a landfill.
The proposed site is also adjacent to a number of houses owned by low-income families at the Little Children of the Philippines’ Bloomington Farm, as well as other residential homes.
“While there is certainty that the proponents of the sanitary landfill endeavor will see to it that all environmental hazards attendant to a garbage dumping area will be addressed, still, there is always a possibility of untoward incidents that may devastate the residing population near the landfill structure,” they said.
On Friday, copies of the position paper for the barangay captain of Camanjac, Bartolome Aranas, the DENR in the province, and the Provincial Board, will be submitted, Kays added. (Mary Judaline Partlow/PNA)