BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – Ten years have passed since the enactment of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, but 95 percent of local government units (LGUs) in Cagayan Valley have yet to comply with it.
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resource (DENR), only five of the 93 LGUs in the region have complied with RA 9003, especially on the establishment of sanitary landfills.
Romeo Fragata of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau regional office said a number of these non-compliant LGUs are still utilizing open dumps, which the law prohibits.
Enacted on Jan. 26, 2001, RA 9003 explicitly mandates LGUs to establish their own sanitary landfills in lieu of the environmentally destructive open dumps, and accordingly, local officials who fail to comply can be charged administratively.
“Despite our intensified campaign, only the municipalities of Lal-lo and Gonzaga in Cagayan and the (towns) of Solano, Bayombong and Aritao in Nueva Vizcaya have established sanitary landfills,” Fragata said.
The rest, he lamented, “are still using open dumps which are hazardous to health and the environment.”
Under RA 9003, LGUs were mandated to close open dumps within 18 months from the effectivity of the law, which seeks to protect groundwater, aquifers, reservoirs and watersheds from contamination brought by garbage leachate.
Besides administrative charges, non-compliant local officials face a penalty of P50,000. However, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said this has yet to be imposed on any local executives.
Fragata said they have issued final notices to non-compliant LGUs, most of which have been claiming lack of funds and proper location for not being able to put up sanitary landfills. For the DENR though, it could just be a lack of political will.