AN official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) admitted on Wednesday that complying with Secretary Roy A. Cimatu’s order to shut down at least 200 more open dumpsites may require a great amount of “political will.”
“If there’s a will, there’s a way. If I have to go to the regions myself to close the open dumps, then I will do it,” Benny Antiporda, the DENR’s undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Unit (LGU) Concerns told reporters during a news briefing on Tuesday.
“If we are able to close 38 open dumps in one day, I am sure, we can close down the remaining 200 within a month,” Antiporda said, confident that the DENR Regional Offices will not dilly-dally this time around in enforcing provisions of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2001.
In his keynote speech during an event highlighting the celebration of Zero Waste Month, Cimatu said the agency’s action against open dumpsites has been relentless and revealed that in one day, the DENR Regional Offices’ were able to close down a total of 38 open dumps.
Commending Antiporda, his alternate chair in the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) in spearheading the closure of open dumpsites in Bataan, Pampanga and Tanza, Cavite, Cimatu said his decisive move is being followed by the agency’s Environmental Management Bureau regional directors nationwide.
He reported that as of 7 p.m. Tuesday, reports reaching his office indicate that the DENR has closed down a total of 38 open dumpsites in the regions in one day.
The report states that Region 4B closed down the most number of open dumps with a total of 17, Region 6 followed with five, while the majority of the DENR Regional Offices were able to close down 2 open dumpsites each.
Cimatu said that the EMB will continuously to implement the closure of open dumpsites within their respective areas of jurisdiction with his directive to close all open dumpsites by the end of March.
While pursuing the closure of open dumps, Cimatu also ordered Antiporda to take charge in coming up with a design for “low-cost” sanitary landfill that will replace the open dumps.
Sought for reaction, Antiporda said such design is possible, for Category I Sanitary Landfill. DENR Administrative Order 10 issued in 2006 indicate that a Category I Sanitary Landfill is a final disposal facility applied to LGUs with net residual waste generated of less than or equal to 15 tons per day (TPD). It shall apply to a cluster of LGUs with a collective disposable residual waste of less than or equal to 15 TPD.
Antiporda said the DENR will work with local government units to ensure proper solid waste management starting with segregation at the source to reduce the volume of garbage produce daily.