NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
The lone sanitary landfill in the province which is in Alburquerque town was stopped from implementing its earlier pronouncement to temporarily close to allow its rehabilitation work.
Gov. Aris Aumentado issued this categorical statement as he asked Alburquerque Mayor Don Ritchie Buates to refrain from implementing the closure which is detrimental to the garbage disposal of the city and 17 municipalities.
The marching order of the governor not to close the landfill was issued a few hours after Mayor Buates met with the affected mayors last Tuesday.
He said that even Tourism Infrastructure Zone Authority (TIEZA) has declared objection to the closure plan of the Albur town mayor.
City Mayor Jane Yap who attended the meeting voiced out a strong objection to the closure citing that Mayor Buates could not make a singular decision of his own since it is the cluster board which holds authority on the operation of the landfill.
The lady mayor deplored the move to close the landfill while questioning since the cluster board was not even asked on how they can help maintain its operation.
“The last meeting called by the Albur mayor was two years ago,” Yap said, citing that the decision to close was not the right move.
If meetings were called, then the problem could have been solved through the help of each of the town availing of the landfill operation.
She rallied the mayors of the affected towns to unite in addressing the concern of the landfill which is the lack of backhoe and dump trucks to sustain its daily maintenance and operation.
The landfill is accommodating residual garbage from the towns of Albur, Baclayon, Antequera, Balilihan, Calape, Catigbian, Cortes, Corella, Dayuis, Dimiao, Lila, Loay, Loboc, Loon, Maribojoc, Panglao and Sikatuna, aside from the capital city.
FORCED PROJECT EIGHT YEARS AGO
The establishment of the Albur Sanitary Landfill was doomed to fail since its inception, according to Corazon Batoy, a retired professor of Holy Name University who is a resident of Albur.
She recalled that a group of oppositors predicted that the problem of leaking of leachate will come in ten years’ time since there was no proper preparation made in the area.
“It was a political drive which forced the landfill to operate in 2017 under the auspices of Rep. Edgar Chatto,” she said.
She recalled that their objection to the project was ignored and its establishment was forced during that time.