NEVER-Ending Story Part 6: is Sanitary Landfill Flood Prone?

The never-ending story of the promised Sanitary Landfill continues to add another chapter to rising dilemma, especially to the residents who live in the barangay of Candau-ay in which the landfill is said to be built.

Closing of Dumpsite and Building of Sanitary Landfill

The Dumageute Dumpsite located in barangay Candau-ay is home to the mountainous piles of waste. An amount of PHP 7.7 Million for Closing Dumaguete Dumpsite was proposed during the start of this year. However, since the Dumaguete Mayor Felipe Antonio “Ipe” Remollo’s proposed ideas of solving the issues back in September 2017, there was less action taken to this serious issue. The mayor created the Technical Working Group (TWG) to find a new location suitable for building a new Sanitary Landfill.

The story stretches out through months, and yet more words – less action was done. Residents of barangay Candau-ay have filed some complains of the previous dumpsite because of the extreme bad odor. Building a sanitary landfill in the same barangay was not the best solution as opinionated by many.

Sanitary Landfill

There are many issues regarding the sanitary landfill which is said to have cause the prolonged wait of the actual construction and launching. These reasons include the site as a flood prone area, residential area (people around the landfill will be seriously affected) and the landfill does not comply with the standards and requirements given by law.

Parish priest Fr. Simplicio Vincoy showed the CHRONICLE a copy of the thousand signatories that states the people in their signed petition are asking answers to the following questions:

1. Has there been a thorough study conducted subjecting the proposed site to each of the 13 parameters which results state the site has not failed to satisfy or comply the exclusion and conditional criteria?
2. has there been environmental safety studies conducted by the city in coordination with DENR’s EMB and MGB?
3. Has there been a prior approval of the proposed site by the DENR?
4. Has there been stakeholders’ consultations conducted, especially to the affected barangays Candau-ay and Camanjac before deciding to buy the lot for the purpose of establishing a sanitary landfill for Dumaguete city?

Whether any of the official and authorized heads are willing to answer these questions, the story of the promised sanitary landfill remains at the more words-less action state.