Feature: How to Kill the Next Generation (2)
What a big, big lie telling the people of Bacolod to "segregate" waste, inaugurate a sanitary landfill in cahoots with certain Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) specialists to accept segregated waste while three mountains of dumped garbage towers and occupy the panoramic beauty of a Barangay Felisa farm land!
The three mountains of garbage in Barangay Felisa nearest to the
Bacolod-Murcia-Bago border. These dumped garbage were accumulated almost a
decade remained untouched by the City Government of Bacolod while a "new" barren
sanitary landfill estimated to be P54M was constructed and inaugurated.* (H.
James G. Toga/NDB)
It has to be cleared that in Barangay Felisa nearest to the Bacolod-Murcia-Bago City border, three mountains of dumped garbage already existed at the onset of the Mayor Evelio Leonardia administration and continued to mount despite reports of P15 million dumpsite closure budget appropriations by then Councilor Greg Gasataya. Where is this amount now?
The three mountains of garbage stretching some three to four hectares is a sight to behold. It is putrid, fetid, rancid spreading all over covering permanent human pathways, chemically annihilating life at the surface and leachate seepage underground aggravated by rain downpour. The Bacolod City Water District has FIVE wells down below the ground, the nearest is Well # 36 which is 1.48 kilometers from the dumpsite mountains (1.2 kilometers from the so-called newly inaugurated sanitary landfill).
Worst, biologically the "Dumpsite Mountains" murdered the Cabura Creek and its tributaries or networks that poisoned portions of Bago City and Murcia. Waterways hasten underground seepages thus affecting human water pumps and dug-out wells, the actual effects on human lives now and in the future are unimaginable.
Nevertheless, Mayor Leonardia inaugurated a glorified barren sanitary landfill some two months ago, separate from the Dumpsite Mountains but which is but an excuse, says former Wilson Gamboa, Jr., for another waste disposal site where garbage are beginning to mount.
A sanitary landfill is supposed to be an engineering feat where residual waste are gathered to ensure zero negative impact on the environment, hazard to public health and safety and control leachate seepages underground – now and in the generations to come. Irreversible destruction took place instead!
A simple reading of DENR Administrative Order No. 9, Series of 2006 (DAO 2006-09), otherwise known as guidelines for the proper closure and rehabilitation of open dumpsites (ODs) and controlled dumpsites facilities (CDFs), in compliance with Section 37 of RA 9003, is in order, explained Gamboa, Jr.
He read a DENR evaluation at the site itself and on air which could have been implemented years before the claimed sanitary landfill was constructed, adding, "By now, vegetation could have been restored as the goal of dumpsite closure procedure."
The DAO requires among others, Gamboa, Jr. said, site clearing, rehabilitation of access roads, constructions of drainage canals, perimeter fences, and leachate ponds, establishment of two monitoring wells, installation of gas vents, the area surrounded by the "green belts" within the perimeter fences and application of final soil, final cover and final vegetation.
The sanitary landfill and "Dumpsite Mountains" are accessible by pedicabs. See for yourself how the next generations are massacred.* (GABSeverino)
