Let us face it. The implementers of R.A. 9003 in the city have bungled their jobs with the revelation that leachate, probably laden with heavy metals, has been flowing to the Matina Pangi river for some time now from the supposed environmental sanitary landfill in barangay New Carmen.
And this means that for some time now, the leachate has been flowing to the sea, rendering Mayor Sara’s Bantay Dagat program irrelevant and this city’s clean air act achievement insignificant.
It is also possible that for some time now, leachate has been escaping the ESL largely untreated, contaminating the river and the Davao Gulf while concerned agencies looked the other way.
Proof is that Tugbok residents themselves will say that tilapia and other marine life which they used to fish along the river has long since disappeared when the ESL began to discharge the untreated liquid emanating from mixed wastes, in the manner of water seeking its own level.
Heads should roll in this era of ‘inclusive growth and change.’ Charges should have been filed for violation of Republic Act 9003 against those who bungled their jobs.
These include, I believe, those who have been hiding the real score from Mayor Sara and the City Council. These are ones who have not been telling both the executive and legislative departments that the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management law has been shot through with holes; that segregation has been good only on paper.
It is a big let-down for a city that is regarded by most LGUs as the template of good governance: peace and order, Clean Air Act implementation, Anti-Smoking, Organic Agriculture Act, speed Limit among other innovative ordinances or policies.
This is not to say that Davao City is alone in so far as the bungling of RA 9003 is concerned. Imperial Metro Manila has been the first to abuse its ESL in San Mateo, Rizal by turning it into an open dump as it did Payatas since when Mayor Jejomar Binay headed the MMDA in the 1990s.
In Bicol, the open dumps have been the eyesores that were negating the attraction of Mt. Mayon. In Baguio City, after it was forced by a Writ of Kalikasan to close its Irisan dump site, City Hall has deemed best to ship its garbage to the lowlands, in the manner of a resident sweeping his dirt towards somebody’s backyard.
But considering that Davao City is being looked up to as an LGU model in more ways than one, I believe Mayor Sara should take this opportunity to show how it can be done correctly once for all.
The ESL in Tugbok, for all intents and purpose, can no longer be saved, considering the mixed wastes that it has accumulated. But the leachate that is squeezed from overloading can still be treated before more harm is done.
The allocation of another P100 million to purchase land for another ESL site strikes me as a sensible move. But having committed itself, the city government under Mayor Sara should now do it right by complying with what the law requires: segregation at source, re-cyle, re-use, compost—with only the residuals to be trucked to the ESL.
The bulk of the garbage which is 60% biodegradable should be composted at the barangay level, with the city providing the financial support as incentives for barangays to segregate at source. Some rural areas in Japan are doing this and to our credit as Filipinos, we have some barangays (in northern Luzon) implementing this over the past 10 years at their own level.
The ESL, for all intents and purposes, is perfect for Davao City that is still primarily agricultural or rural. It is perfect complement to many pro-environment laws this city has enacted. Hand in hand with composting, it can prove effective in alleviating climate change and (together with waste segregation) in producing the organic fertilizer that can sustain food production. It is a sharp contrast to the open dump that produces leachate and dangerous gases as proven in Payatas and elsewhere.
Mayor Sara herself has elicited praises for thumbing down a P40-Billion Davao coastline and development project because of the possible harm it would inflict on the environment. This cemented her reputation as one who would do to ride the river with in protecting the environment.
A properly managed ESL is her best legacy to this city, in the process providing the catalyst that has so far escaped the Philippine landscape on a municipal or city level. It offers a window of opportunity in making whole the attraction of this city as a community of law-abiding, peace-loving, innovative and enterprising people.
Mayor Sara owes it to the pioneering spirit of those that developed Davao from a former swampland into what it is now— to lead the way.
