No sense of urgency in mayor on dump site
THE Court of Appeals (CA) has spoken. In a 25-page decision, the CA Special 19th Division granted Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera's petition for a writ of kalikasan and ordered the closure of the Inayawan dump site. The CA ordered Mayor Tomas Osmeña to no longer dump the city's trash in Inayawan and tasked the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) 7 of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to monitor strict compliance by the city government of the order.
It's another blow for Osmeña, who has seen his earlier complaint about the transfer of his favored police officials result in the National Police Commission (Napolcom) temporarily stripping him of his control over the city's police force. The CA decision stemmed from the mayor's insistence to reopen the Inayawan dump site after it was closed by former mayor Michael Rama early last year. Raised were the worries about the people's health and concerns about the environment.
Osmeña should have seen it coming. Or should I say he did see the decision coming but refused to be proactive. The order came weeks after Environment Secretary Gina Lopez also ordered the closure of the facility, describing it as an “environmental bombshell.” Before that, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 saw the need to close the dump site because of health issues. The area stinks.
The mayor did announce the plan to fully close the facility in January next year but has not exhibited a sense of urgency in looking for an alternative dump site. Instead, he threatened to dump the city's trash at the South Road Properties. (SRP). The previous administration brought the city's trash to a private landfill in Consolacion town but Osmeña said the transaction was illegal because it was not supported by a contract.
Osmeña said he has yet to receive the CA order but claimed the city is no longer using the Inayawan dump site. Instead, an area at the SRP will be used as a transfer station, which I think is not the correct term. A transfer station is an area where garbage is temporarily deposited prior to its being loaded in bigger trucks and brought to its final destination, a landfill or dump site.
What Osmeña is actually setting up at the SRP is an alternative dump site. It would be interesting to find out what EMB 7 officials will say about this. Is it environmentally sound to dump garbage on a reclaimed land that is not intended as a dump site? Will Osmeña not be violating environmental laws?
Meanwhile, the mayor is using the CA order to pressure the city council to provide him with the budget to solve the garbage mess. City councilors are currently tackling the proposed annual budget that Osmeña submitted. Included there is a P60 million appropriation for the rehabilitation of the Inayawan dump site. City councilors are inclined to give a smaller amount, however.
I think the garbage mess has gone beyond looking for scapegoats. It is time for Osmeña to drop the politicking and consider the greater public interest. I know he does not lack creativity in looking for solutions to the problem; it's just that he has been refusing to use that creativity out of spite. For astarters, he should begin exhibiting a sense of urgency in the search for an alternative dump site.
The mayor said his legal team is preparing a motion for reconsideration, but I doubt if the CA justices would change their ruling. The mayor should therefore end the pretense and stop the fake hemming and hawing. Look for an alternative dumpsite na.