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IRISAN TRASH SLIDE: A NEGLGENCE OR ACT OF GOD?
(Lyra Erika)

The collapse of the risan dumpsite located at the suburbs of Baguio City during the onslaught of
Typhoon Mina killed five people and queries over the capability of local government in maintaining an
open dumpsite.
t was found out that there is a clear violation of the Solid Waste Management Act, RA 9003. The
open and controlled dumpsites were not closed and replaced with sanitary landfills five years after the
law's passage. This incident is similar to the Payatas tragedy, which revealed that the way we manage
our garbage not only impacts our environment and health, but can also endanger lives. Several houses
were also buried by garbage. t wasn't only infrastructure that was damage but also the health of the
residents.
Even lawmakers believe that Baguio City officials should be charged criminally and
administratively for allowing open dump to operate. The risan dumpsite was also found to be highly
susceptible to landslides, as indicated in the report of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources. f this is the case, what is the use of the purchased Environmental Recycling System (ERS)
machines that costs millions of pesos? When in fact, the machines were purchased to turn biodegradable
waste into fertilizers.
What exactly went wrong?
Based on the result of investigations, the residual wastes that are supposed to be dumped in the
area intended for has been stopped. The residual wastes were concentrated in risan and were not yet
hauled for a long time. While, Mayor Domogan claimed that residual wastes were temporarily stored in
risan dumpsite while waiting for the hauling to Rosales, Pangasinan which costs P20 million. t wasn't
hauled immediately because the wastes were not properly segregated and mostly are biodegradable
wastes.
However, pointing whose fault should not be the priority, but instead the city government and the
present country's administration should find immediate remedy such helping the victims cope up with the
tragedy mainly financially and clearing the wastes for good.
This is the big challenge not only in Domogan's administration but also a persisting concern of the
country. Moreover, some officials should be made accountable for their negligence in doing their work
that caused death and destruction of properties.
The government choice of way in managing the enormous city wastes is weak and unstable. This
should have been one of the city's top priority.
So, it could have been better if the city has preferred Engineered Sanitary Landfill. This is highly
acceptable due to its advantages: No open burning of trash and low odor content; water/ground pollution
can handle large amounts of wastes; less cost; and filled land can be used for other agricultural projects.




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gzogedtes goppea.. _ot ttII... teg eooId oee eea oeotded."
t is true that tragedies happen every now and then. t could not be denied that along with the
increase of modern living systems, the rate of tragedies happening around the globe also arise.
Just recently, typhoon Nanmadol [or typhoon Mina] has caused the risan dump site's wall to
crumble down and kill at least six people, two of whom are young children ages six and eight. Those who
were killed lived right within the territories of the dump site.

Operating in about several decades now, the dump site was said to have been in need of
being shut down already. However, due to the lack of dumping site in the city, the dumping of trash in the
area continued up until the day of the typhoon's attack in the country. Due to the unexpected effect of the
strong water-flow from the rainfall, people were not warned to move away from any possible trash slides.
Every one was given cue to take care of themselves especially at the occurrence of any landslides or
falling electric lines due to strong winds, but there was no warning about the trash slide since it has not
been anticipated.
The result of the lack of preparation amounted to devastating deaths and several homes buried
under large amount of trash... but things could have been very different if....
...the city followed close observation of proper waste management....
t was the year 2009 when the "new" waste segregation law has been passed in the city which
called upon the attention of the city-residents to segregate their trash between biodegradable and non-
biodegradable. The first few weeks of implementation were successful however the following days have
become less of an achievement. People became less enthusiastic about the process hence resulting to
non-segregation and increased amount of waste that cannot be fully controlled by the government
anymore.
Months later, it was as if the people have forgotten that a law on waste segregation ever existed.
Many see the waste segregation practice as an added task that they cannot commit themselves to.
...they only had other places to live in...
the devastating smell from the dump site should have caused the people to understand that they should
not live anywhere near the dump area. However, given the circumstances of being poor and having no
own land to establish their own homes into, the victims chose to stay within the boundaries of the dump
site. t has even been reported that the father of the three kids who died in the trash slide is currently held
in prison for robbery. His mother, the children's grandmother, was the only one looking after the children.
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Sadly, the grandmother also died along with her grandchildren. Relatively, in third world countries
like the Philippines, seeing people living in grave conditions such as living among the trash is a common
situation that has already been accepted by the society.
True, while everything seems to advance so fast, people tend to remain contained in their own
ways of simply "not caring" about others. f there are those who are able to create solutions, only a few
follow them. Often times, tragedies such as this one could have been avoided if only the human society
work together in a united hand for the sake of not only protecting themselves, but protecting everyone
else along with the generations that shall follow their path.
ladly, it is not yet too late to change....
....and change begins in each and everyone of us...


















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What led to the ",7-,0 sIid0 that claimed lives and property at the height of Typhoon Mina last week?

n January, 2001, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 was enacted into law
which mandated the "State to adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological solid waste
management program. The 44-page document signed by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also
directed local government units, in our case the City Government of Baguio, to come up with a plan that
"shall include an implementation schedule which shows that within five (5) years after the effectivity of this
Act; the LGU shall divert at least 25% of all solid waste from waste disposal facilities through re-use,
recycling, and composting activities and other resource recovery activities.

Five years. So between 2001 and 2006, what was done to implement that law?

Since the majority of finger pointers point their fingers at the executive when it comes to this
particular issue, the men holding the reins of the local government then were as follows:

The Hon. Bernardo M. Vergara Baguioi's mayor from the year the law was enacted to the year
that the risian open dumpsite should have been converted into a controlled dumpsite for Section 37 of
the law, headlined "Prohibition Against the Use of Open Dumps for Solid Waste states that "No open
dumps shall be established and operated, nor any practice or disposal of solid waste by any person,
including LGUs, which constitutes the use of open dumps for solid waste, be allowed after the effectivity
of this Act: Provided, That within three (3) years after the effectivity of this Act, every LGU shall convert its
open dumps into controlled dumps. the sections ends with, "no controlled dumps shall be allowed five
(5) years following effectivity of this Act.

The Hon. Braulio Yaranon our mayor until he was suspended in 2006, or the year that the risan
dumpsite should have been totally closed, and that a Sanitary Landfill should have already been
established in its place.

The Hon. Peter Rey Bautista the chief executive when the whole thing blew up in our faces
and right under our noses in 2008, or two years since the deadline set by the law.

That year, Baguio was in the headlines because of the mounting uncollected garbage in its
streets uncollected because we had nowhere to dump our trash because the risan dumpsite was finally
closed. Why did Bautista close it? Because it would by then already illegal to operate an open dumpsite,
which is what the risan dumpsite was. At that time, at the height of the crisis, then Mayor Bautista,
instead of sweeping things under the rug and making excuses like any old trapo would, bit the bullet and
apologized to the people and said that "he alone was responsible for it and was willing to go to jail for the
actions he took to solve it" (Vincent Cabreza, Philippine Daily Inquirer 08/07/2008).


With the risan dumpsite closed and with no other option but to bring our garbage somewhere
else, Bautista had the city's waste hauled to faraway Tarlac, the nearest garbage facility willing to accept
our garbage. t cost a lot of money, obviously, but considering the risks to life and property posed by the
continued operation of the risan dumpsite then, add to that the health risks brought about by uncollected
garbage left rotting in our streets, what other real choice did the city have then?

The dumpsite's operation was limited then to being a staging area before hauling the garbage to
Tarlac - effectively turning it into a controlled dumpsite, something that was supposed to have been done
three years since the law was enacted, or back in 2004.

The City Government then began focusing its attention on finding a suitable site for a Sanitary
Landfill, but that proved to be not a walk in the park despite the availabliity of funds for its acquisition and
construction. The law specified that a Sanitary Landfill must satisfy the following criteria:

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(a) The site selected must be consistent with the overall land use plan of the LGU;
(b) The site must be accessible from major roadways or thoroughfares;
(c) The site should have an adequate quantity of earth cover material that is easily handled and
compacted;
d) Th0 sit0 must -0 chos03 with 70,7d fo7 th0 s03sitiviti0s of th0 commu3ity's 70sid03ts;
(e) The site must be located in an area where the landfill's operation will not detrimentally affect
environmentally sensitive resources such as aquifer, groundwater reservoir or watershed area;
(f) The site should be large enough to accommodate the community's wastes for a period of five (5) years
during which people must internalize the value of environmentally sound and sustainable solid waste
disposal;
(g) The site chosen should facilitate developing a landfill that will satisfy budgetary constraints, including
site development, operation for many years, closure, post-closure care and possible remediation costs;
(h) Operating plans must include provisions for coordinating with recycling and resource recovery
projects; and
(i) Designation of a separate containment area for household hazardous wastes.

The highlighted part above proved to be one of the several major hurdles in the establishment of
a Sanitary Landfill. While there were suitable sites that were found to have passed most of the criteria,
mostly in neighboring municipalities, residents objected to their town being the recipient of Baguio's
garbage.

By the time elections came last year, this was where we stood:

1. risan dumpsite closed.
2. We didn't have a proper gabage disposal facility as prescribed by the law.
3. We continued to produce garbage.
4. The nearest facility willing to accept our garbage was in Capas, Tarlac.

To lessen what needed to be hauled to Tarlac, the City Government asked, nay begged,
residents to segregate their garbage. When this didn't work, a no-segregation, no-collection policy was
enforced. t still didnt' work, to a lot of people, segregating their garbage was such a big hassle, required
too much extra effort. So instead of exerting extra efforts to segregate their trash, they started finding
ways to dispose of these by dumping these in collection areas when barangay officials aren't looking,
burning them (including plastics and other toxic materials) in their backyards, etc. The mountains of
uncollected, unsegregated garbage continued to pile up.

n 2009, the year before the elections, politicians capitalized on the garbage issue to perpetuate
their respective candidacies. Every one of them had a "permanent solution to the crisis. n a report by
Artemio Dumlao for the The Philippine Star (November 08, 2009), he quoted then Congressman and now
Mayor Domogan as saying that "(there) seems no action to implement the permanent solution,
apparently referring to Bautista's administration.


Photo of risan Dumpsite before (at left) and after Bautista closed it
and began its rehabilitation in 2010 (at right).
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He won the mayoral seat last year, together with The Hon. Bernardo M. Vergara who won as
congressman and who promised to spend much of his pork barrel on solving the city's garbage woes.

Then just three months ago, in May of this year, according to a report, Mayor Domogan
announced that the city's garbage problem has been solved ("Mayor solves Baguio garbage woes by
Dexter See, May 16, 2011 www.mb.com.ph). The government has purchased Environmental Recycling
System (ERS) machines which should take care of the city's biodegradable waste, and the rest of our
garbage (residual, non-biodegradable waste) will be taken care of by the suppliers of those
machines, Protech Machinery Corporation.

Which makes one wonder if the ERS machines only took care of biodegradable waste, where
were they taking the rest of the city's garbage?

Last August 27, 2011, Typhoon Mina showed us where. See, Typhoon Mina did not just trigger a
tragic catastrophe that claimed lives and property, it uncovered a rotten political system, a system that
kills.

During last year's elections, flyers were anonymously printed and distributed ridiculing then Mayor
Bautista which had an illustration of a mountain of rotting garbage with the caption, "asura, basura,
matutumba!" How ironic.

But at the end of the day, forget about politics, the ball is in our, the citizens', hands. The city
government has provided for the handling of our bio-degradable waste. That's good. Now as for the rest
of our garbage - reduce, reuse, recycle. A lot of the trash that made it to risan dumpsite, and
unfortunately down towards Asin Road, can instead be recycled, if only we would exert a little extra effort
and SEGREGATE!

We can point fingers all we want, rant on Facebook all we want, but really, what have we done to
help solve the problem?