THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 6 is proposing the construction of 17 sanitary landfills, one each for every congressional district, costing a total of P3.4 billion, to address the growing garbage menace in Western Visayas.
The proposal excludes Iloilo City, which already has its own sanitary landfill in Calajuran in Mandumao District.
DENR Regional VI Director Jim O. Sampulna told the BusinessMirror in an interview that he’s “already written a letter proposing for the construction of sanitary landfill facilities in Western Visayas; one for each congressional district.”
“Recognizing the need for LGUs [local government units] to construct sanitary landfill facilities in compliance with RA [Republic Act] 9003, this region would like to submit a proposal for the construction of such facilities,” Sampulna said in his letter, dated April 6, 2018, addressed to the DENR Policy and Planning Services director.
Sampulna also wrote a letter to Sen. Loren B. Legarda appealing to the lady lawmaker to help Region 6 find funding to address what he described as a looming garbage crisis in Western Visayas.
The proposal for the construction of such facilities aims to address the concern of burgeoning volume of solid waste due to an increase of population and consumption patterns, Sampulna said.
Western Visayas is a biodiversity-rich region with huge ecotourism potential. But because of the increasing population, including tourist arrival, garbage generation is also up.
“As far as the problem is concerned, our primary concern right now is our garbage,” Sampulna said.
In Boracay alone, an island comprised of three barangays produces 100 tons of garbage every day.
Sampulna’s budget proposal is broken down as follows: P200 million for Aklan province, P200 million for Antique, P400 million for Capiz’s two congressional districts, P1 billion for Iloilo’s five congressional districts, P200 million for Guimaras and P1.4 billion for Negros Occidental’s total of seven congressional districts.