By Joey Pavia / Correspondent
ANGELES CITY—Sen. Cynthia Villar vowed to help Pampanga’s only highly urbanized city to reduce its tons of solid waste and strengthen its food production through organic farming.
In an interview over the weekend, Villar said her home city of Las Piñas in Metro Manila had managed to reduce at least 75 percent of its solid waste by converting it into organic fertilizer and construction materials on slope protection. She was a former congresswoman of the Lone District of Las Piñas and her brother, a longtime mayor of the city.
Villar said their city used to spend a “fortune” in disposing garbage.
“Our neighbor, Parañaque City, spends some P400 million annually on solid-waste management. Manila spends almost P1 billion or more,” said Villar, who attended over the weekend the second Lechon Festival here.
Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, who was beside Villar, said the city government is churning out P100 million yearly on the management of its garbage. Villar said Las Piñas chips out at least P90 million annually for the same purpose.
Pamintuan welcomed the “valuable assistance” of Villar. He vowed to replicate the “best practices” of Las Piñas City.
According to the latest government census, there are 326, 336 residents in Angeles City and Las Piñas City’s population is reportedly 552, 573.
Las Piñas City is part of the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila, where there is an estimated daytime population of 14 million.
The NCR is the most populous metropolitan area in the country and the 11th in the world, according to reports.
Villar said they “recycle” some 40,000 coconut husks in Las Piñas City daily. She added they convert the coconut fiber into coco coir for slope protection.
Villar said the slopes of the P34-billion Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway is protected by the Coconet Sio-Engineering Solutions.
In 2008 the Department of Public Works and Highways issued Department Order 29 stating that, “In line with the continuing efforts to upgrade the construction technology through adoption of successful research studies, this department has approved the use of Coconet Sio-Engineering Solutions, Item 518 for controlling soil erosion and slope stabilization.”
Villar said her home city produces 55,000 kilos of fertilizers monthly and “we are looking forward to giving some of it to Angeles City.” The first-term senator said they are giving away the fertilizers made from kitchen waste to “any group of farmers and local government units.”
“Our monthly production of organic fertilizer is too much. We have to give most of it for free. It’s our commitment for the production of more and safer food,” Villar said.
Villar, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said, “we have to strengthen our production on agriculture, poultry and fishing” because the growth rate was “only 1.6 to 1.8” for the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year. She said it must be at least 6 percent similar to the country’s growth rate registered on the same period this year.
Villar was in Angeles City on May 23 to attend the festival hosted by Salapungan led by Barangay Captain Rey Malig.