Albur cluster sanitary landfill opens

ALBURQUERQUE, Bohol - The P300-million cluster sanitary landfill

complex in the municipality of Alburquerque in Bohol province finally
opens, which is considered the first in the country to cater to several
towns.

Mayor Elpren Charles M. Tungol said the cluster landfill is now 100-
percent operational and will start catering to wastes from Tagbilaran
City and 16 clustered municipalities on Monday.

The operation of the landfill formally unveiled 15 years after it was

conceived as the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone
Authority (TIEZA) and the local government unit of Alburquerque
signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the turn-over of the
6.9-hectare facility on Friday.

The project was funded by TIEZA, formerly Philippine Tourism

Authority (PTA), which spent P300-million for the construction and
development of the facility.

Mayor Tungol said the Albur cluster sanitary landfill will finally be put
to test as the 16 towns and 1 city will start disposing their residual
wastes tomorrow.

Former Albur mayor Efren D. Tungol, who is instrumental in the

projects initiation 15 years ago, said the sanitary landfill has
modern features and is considered as the most technically
advanced residual waste disposal facility in the country.

This is a facility that will showcase the town of Albur as a model in

hosting a waste facility, which locals can be proud of, said former
mayor Tungol.

Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto lauded the municipality government of

Albur for pushing with the completion of the landfill project despite
the previous problems.

It takes political will to complete the project and that local

government was able to do that, Gov. Chatto added.
The Albur municipal government and 16 other LGUs, with the
assistance of TIEZA, had pushed for the construction of the sanitary
landfill in compliance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management
Act of 2001, or Republic Act (RA) 9003.

RA 9003, signed into law by former President Gloria Macapagal-

Arroyo in 2001, provided for the closure of all open dumps in favor
of sanitary landfills and ordered the segregation of recyclable and
non-recyclable wastes. The law set a deadline on March 31, 2017 for
local officials to close their open dumpsites or else they be charged
for environmental violations at the newly established Environmental
Ombudsman.

FINALLY AFTER 15 YEARS

An existing agreement signed between the Philippine Tourism

Authority (PTA), the forerunner of the TIEZA headed by General
Manager Robert Dean S. Barbers and former Mayor Efren Tungol in
February 12, 2007 authorized the municipality of taking over the
operation, management, administration and maintenance of the
Sanitary Landfill was the basis of the new MOA executed between
TIEZA and incumbent Mayor Elpren Charles Tungol on Friday.

Governor Chatto hailed the turn-over and operation of the ACSLF as

the fulfillment of a concept hatched 15 years ago seeking a
collaborative effort to meet the waste disposal needs of the province
in the next 20 years.

Chatto who was then congressman of the 1st district of

Bohol succeeded in sourcing funds from the defunct PTA for the
initial funding of phase 1 of the P300 million project said this will be
the first cluster sanitary landfill in the country serving several
municipalities.

PROBLEMS RESOLVED

Former Mayor Efren Tungol clarified that the turn-over from TIEZA
included the conditional transfer of the 14 lots they bought for the
construction of the landfill while titling requirements is currently
under process.
The present MOA forged between incumbent Mayor Tungol and Atty.
Guiller Asido, the COO of TIEZA, ensures the continuity and the
success of operation of the cluster sanitary landfill by turning over to
the municipality of Albur the operation, administration and
maintenance of the facility.

The MOA will also serve as the basis for the municipal government
and the other 16 LGU-members of the cluster to appropriate
adequate funds to the full implementation and operation of the
landfill.

Under the MOA, TIEZA which provided full technical and financial
support for the construction and development of the landfill,
undertakes to complete the titling process of the properties where
the landfill complex is located. TIEZA will also execute the
appropriate legal instrument(s) to transfer full title and ownership to
the municipality of Albur.

The MOA further provides that while said properties are being titled,
TIEZA allows the full and complete possession of the facility by the
municipality.

Incumbent Mayor Tungol, son of the former mayor, also clarified that
the acceptance of the landfill hinges on the strict implementation of
the approved specifications and standards of the project.

Tungol said a 5-day dry run of the cluster landfill in September last
year that saw the residual wastes weighed at 4,320 kilos of sixteen
municipalities and the City of Tagbilaran disposed in Barangay
Dangay.

Tungol expressed optimism that all concerns have been sufficiently

addressed by the project stakeholders.

The original 11 towns has grown into seventeen towns that will
dispose their residual wastes in the ACSLF including Tagbilaran City
with an estimated more than 30 tons of garbage produced daily.

The ACSLF Cluster Board headed by Mayor Tungol agreed to fork out
seed money of PhP100,000.00 each for the operation and
maintenance of the landfill and will be assessed a disposal or tipping
fee of PhP1,300 per ton.
The ACSLF will not accept direct garbage disposal and will require all
garbage trucks to secure a certificate that the garbage to be
disposed were inspected by personnel of the municipal transfer
stations.

Each municipality will dump their residual wastes once a week with
Tagbilaran City given the option to dispose their wastes more than
once a week in consideration to the volume of their trash.

According to the Waste Assessment and Characterization Study

(WACS) conducted by the Bohol Environment Management Office
(BEMO) in 2015, daily residual waste produced by the 17 cluster
members was 39,317 kilograms.

The top three biggest daily residual waste generators were

Tagbilaran City 9452, Baclayon 8,820 and Panglao 3,510.

Dauis 3,241, Loon 2,983, Maribojoc 1,604, Calape, 1575, Loboc

1,444, Corella 970, Dimiao 914, Balilihan 832, Antequera
830, Loay 803 and Sikatuna 790.

The towns of Lila 185, Cortes 617 and Alburquerque 747

rounded up the bottom of the 16 towns that generated the least
residual waste.

POLITICAL WILL

Former Mayor Efren Tungol, who bore the brunt of criticisms and
risked electoral defeat, by agreeing to the hosting of the waste
disposal facility in his town, said the realization of the project was
made possible by the persistence of ECOGOV Visayas Team Leader
May Elizabeth Ybaez, especially during the early stages of the
project conceptualization and implementation.

ECOGOV was instrumental in forking out the initial funding

requirements of the project through the assistance of the USAid.
In a show of uncommon political will former mayor Tungol was
able to convince his own constituents of the projects feasibility and
the benefits it would bring to the municipality.

Former mayor Tungol, a civil engineer by profession and served as

municipal mayor of Albur for 15 years, said he is willing to share his
experience and technical know-how in the establishment of a cluster
sanitary landfill to other local government units in the country who
are pressed on closing their open dumpsites to meet the deadline
set by the Environmental Ombudsman on March 31, 2017.

Other members of the ACSLF Cluster Board are Sikatuna Mayor Jose
Ellorimo, Jr., Vice Chairman, Balilihan Mayor Pureza Chatto, Secretary,
Baclayon Mayor Benecio Uy, Treasurer,

Elvie Peter Relampagos, Committee Chairman, Legal and Financial, Calape

Mayor Nelson Yu, Committee Chairman, Technology and Innovation and
Corella Mayor Jose Nicanor Tocmo, Committee Chairman, Sanitary Landfill
Operations and Community Relations.