Bontoc closes dump site along Chico River

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -  Bontoc, Mt. Province’s capital town which was earlier sued by Kalinga for its open dumpsite along the Chico River, has finally closed down the controversial garbage dump.

Mayor Franklin Odsey on August 20 ordered the final closure of the open dumpsite at Matoytoy-ok, Barangay Caluttit in compliance with the order of the Court of Appeals.

Odsey, who earlier belied reports of environmentalists in Kalinga and the petitioners of the Writ of Kalikasan that the open dump site is still open,  has also re-organized the Municipal Solid Waste Management Board including the technical working group (TWG).

In preparation to the closure, the Bontoc local government initiated plans such as the scheduling of garbage collection, conduct of information, education, and communication (IEC) on proper waste segregation, and training of green police, the mayor added.

Two training sessions were conducted for members of the green police. The first training was financed by Environmental Management Bureau-CAR while the second was financed by the town.

The green police will conduct IEC and monitor the barangays on the proper segregation and schedule of waste collections. They will return unsegregated wastes to the constituents. The activity started its test run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 31.

As to the closure and rehabilitation of the Caluttit open dump, the town government allotted P1 million for the construction of a retaining wall, fencing of its premises, leveling of the steep slope and covering the site with soil, and printing and hanging of  tarpaulins stating among others that the dump site is now permanently closed.

Another program is the “Oplan pera sa basura” that will be participated in by all schools within the 16 barangays. Under it, the schools will be clustered into Central; Riverside; Alab, Balili, Gonogon; and Upland. The mechanics will be communicated to the schools soon so the prizes of winning schools will be given during the commencement exercises next year.

The IEC on waste management will be a continuing activity in Bontoc.

For the past months, officials of the four central barangays and municipal officials conducted information drive on proper waste management, massive clean-up, training of green police, announcements in the schedules of collections of wastes and concept of the oplan pera sa basura in the schools.

TWG member Roger Agcapen has said that some of the milestones accomplished by the municipality  in compliance with the CA order are re-organization of the municipal ecological solid waste management board and TWG, identification of material recovery facilities,  composting areas and residual area, safe closure and rehabilitation plan, budget preparation, IEC on segregation at source, test run of green police, signing of memorandum of agreement between local junkshop and barangays and junkshop and municipality, and the issuance of the executive order for the closure of the dumpsite.