CEBU, Philippines – The Environmental Management Bureau has finally issued an environmental compliance certificate to Talisay City for its sanitary landfill in the upland barangay of Tapul.
The landfill has been in operation for almost five years now.
City Planning and Development Coordinator Christine Homez said it took the city that long to get the requirement as the city around that time was facing a legal battle with the owners of the property where the landfill is located.
However, she said the supposed expropriation proceeding for the 96,201 square-meter lot had to be shelved after owners Amelia Lua and Leona Baclay agreed to sell the property to Talisay.
The ECC was released to the city two weeks ago, said Homez.
"The EMB had to hold the issuance of the ECC because there was no absolute deed of sale yet.
But around the time that the ECC was still being processed, we gave the EMB the conditional deed of sale while the negotiation to buy the property was still underway," said Homez, adding that the city had already purchased the entire lot.
She did not however give the exact amount as to how much it cost the city government. But in earlier negotiations, the city had agreed to pay P340/meter for the property, P60 less from the owners' original asking price.
The city has been using this facility since December 2005 without giving due compensation to the owners, which almost led to a battle in the courts.
In 2008, the EMB slapped the city with a P50,000 penalty for the continuous usage of the facility without the benefit of an ECC.
The bureau had maintained that the city must secure first a title for the property under its name as part of the requirement for the issuance of the ECC before the city can legally operate it.
Meanwhile, Homez said they still need to secure a development permit and zoning clearance for the facility to be fully considered that it is legally operating.
"We have the ECC already but we are not off the hook yet, as there are conditions set by the EMB for us to follow. This means that the landfill's operation is still subject to its monitoring, that if we cannot follow any of those conditions they set, we could be closed," said Homez.
In December 2005, Talisay had hastened the opening of its sanitary landfill, after the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-National Environmental Action Team (IBP-NEAT) threatened to file legal action against it for its open dumpsite in barangay Biasong.
IBP's move was in view of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act which prohibits all open dumpsites all over the country. (THE FREEMAN)