The local government unit (LGU) of Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, has allocated P20.5 million in funds for the establishment of a sanitary landfill as mandated by law.
Engr. Leonides Caro of the Secretariat of the City Development Council disclosed Monday that the appropriation consists of a previous allocation of Php 5 million taken from the city’s 20 percent Development Fund, and the P15.5 million which the City Council recently approved, to be taken from the unappropriated surplus of the General Fund.
To make the appropriation easier, Engr. Caro said they asked the City Council to transfer the funds to the Development Fund instead.
Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo had earlier requested the august body for the appropriation of funds for the sanitary landfill, which is one, his administrations priority concerns to address the growing garbage problem in Dumaguete.
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 Candauay is now outlawed.
Also, the volume of garbage is increasing by the day considering the boom in the city’s economy and population.
Mayor Remollo and the Technical Working Group (TWG) has 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 will have to pursue its plan to utilize a lot in the Candau-ay-Camanjac area, he said.
The latter, however, is smaller in size and will only be for 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.
Engr. 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. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)