Bataan town landfill faces closure over public health risk

HERMOSA, Bataan — The municipal government here issued Monday a notice of violation against a sanitary landfill in one of its villages, threatening it with closure if it will continue to pose danger to public health.
Mayor Antonio Joseph Inton enumerated various violations allegedly committed by Econest Waste Management Corp., operator of the landfill in Barangay Mambog since July 2017 under a private-public partnership (PPP) scheme with the local government.
“Una, unsegregated waste. Tumatanggap ito ng unsegregated waste sa ibang bayan samantalang kami dito nagpapakahirap para magsegregate ng basura (First, unsegregated waste. It receives unsegregated waste from other areas while we sacrifice here segregating our garbage),” he said.
Inton said that based on its category as a sanitary landfill, the facility has to meet certain conditions.
“Una, kailangan every day after magtapon ng basura, iko-kober ng six inches na soil ang basurahan pero wala (First, every day after dumping garbage, it should be covered with six inches of soil but they don’t). Pangalawa, pangako walong taon ang Cell 1 pero two years pa lang puno na. Overloaded na Cell 1 (Second, they promised that Cell 1 will be filled in eight years but it is only two years and it is already full). Pangatlo, ang leachate pond. Kailangan ang leachate pond meron chlorination. Wala pa. Nang mag-inspect ako, wala (Third, the leachate pond. The leachate pond should have chlorination but when I inspected, there was none yet),” he said.
Another thing, the mayor said, was that the firm constructed a building without permit and without the consent of the local government.
“Wala ng respeto sa munisipyo ng Hermosa bilang partner sa PPP (They have no respect for the municipal government as PPP partner),” Inton said.
He also questioned why employees of the municipal government were barred from entering and inspecting the dumpsite. He said Econest should not forget that the local government owns the sanitary landfill.
”Ang tagal ko ng hinihingi ang financial statement nila. Ang ibinibigay puro expenses pero ang income hanggang ngayon wala at hindi nag-reremit sa pamahalaang lokal ng share na dapat natatanggap nito (I have been asking for their financial statement but what they were submitting were mere expenses without the income and they are not remitting to the municipal government its due share),” Inton said.
He said their agreement was for the municipal government to dump garbage in the landfill free of charge.
“Noong una zero billing kami pero ngayong may violations ito, may billing bigla ang munisipyo (At first, we had zero billing but they suddenly billed the municipal government when they were found with violations).”
The mayor said he could not understand why the company makes decisions without the consent of the municipality.
“Saan ka makakakita ng partnership na hindi ini-inform ang partner (Where will you find a partnership wherein a partner is not being informed)?”
He said Econest did not advise them that it would allow other areas outside of Bataan to dump wastes in the Hermosa landfill.
“Ang usap namin Hermosa at Bataan lang para matulungan ang lalawigan habang ginagawa pa ang para dito pero may Quezon City na at Laguna (We agreed that Hermosa and other towns in Bataan will dump waste in the landfill while a new one is being prepared for the province but now, Quezon City and Laguna are using the landfill).”
Asked what he will do after serving the notice of violation, Inton said: “After i-serve ang notice of violation, tingnan natin compliance nila. Pag hindi sila nag-comply, wala akong magagawa. Ipapatigil ko basurahan kung ito’y magpo-pose ng danger sa public health (After the notice of violation is served, we will see their compliance. If they will not comply, I can do nothing but to stop the landfill operation if it will pose a hazard to public health).”
Orly Balean, municipal disaster risk reduction management chief, said they served the notice because of an incident last January 11 when a monitoring and inspection team discovered dump trucks with unsegregated wastes dumping in the landfill.
“Malinaw ang mandato ng batas na dapat segregated ang dinadala sa landfill (The mandate of the law is clear that waste should be segregated before being brought to the landfill),” he said.
Balean said they inspected the area to see if it is complying with the provisions of the law.
“May mga pangangailangan pang dapat ayusin (There are requirements that have to be complied with),” he said.
With Balean serving the notice were municipal Councilor Luz Samaniego, municipal secretary Lawyer Joseph Sabado, Hermosa police chief, Major Jeffrey Onde, municipal marshals and barangay officials.
Beverly Sevilleno, general manager of Econest Waste Management Corp., received the notice of violation.
“Siyempre, ire-review muna namin kung meron kami talagang na-violate and we will make remedial action, immediate actions kung in case meron man (We will review if indeed we have violations and we will make remedial action, immediate actions in case we have,” she said when asked to comment./Ernie Esconde (PNA)