Residents of sitio Tuburan, barangay Cambayog, Compostela town, marched to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7 office yesterday to oppose the proposed landfill in their place by the municipal government of Compostela.
More than 100 residents of sitio Tuburan launched a signature campaign against the plan.
The residents said that sitio Tuburan is a watershed area and that their source of water are deep wells that may be polluted by the garbage from the proposed landfill.
Hercules Domanillos, president of the Tuburan community resident owners, said that they will be lobbying the matter and will be fighting for the halt of the plan.
Domanillos said the area is not ideal for a sanitary landfill site because it is already a “highly-urbanized area” with more than 200 residents.
DENR Regional Solid Waste Management coordinator Amancio Dongcoy said that he had already made a survey in the said area and found out that the issues raised by the residents are true.
Dongcoy said that the location of the landfill is not applicable as a lot of residents have already settled below the mountainous area where the landill is to be placed.
He said that deep wells is the source of water among the residents, which makes ground water pollution likely if the landfill pushes through. He also said floods in the area might wash the garbage out.
Earlier, 11 mayors decided to put up a common sanitary landfill and agreed to share the total expenses for the undertaking.
The cluster is composed of the cities of Mandaue, Danao and Lapu-Lapu, and the towns of Liloan, Catmon, Consolacion, Carmen, Compostela, Sogod, Tabogon and Borbon.
Provincial Board member Victor Maambong said the estimated cost of a sanitary landfill is P400 million, including land clearing and excavation, collection and treatment, surface water runoff collection and disposal, methane collection and flaring, access road and monitoring wells.
Maambong said the DENR approved two areas in Danao City and Sogod town as possible sites of the sanitary landfill.
The Danao site is at least 20 hectares with available space for expansion, while engineers have yet to check and measure the Sogod site. - Jasmin R. Uy/BRP