Antique’s biggest town is being eyed to host the proposed sanitary landfill that will also serve five to eight other municipalities of the province.
Josephine Maguad, Antique Provincial Environmental Management Unit (PEMU) which is under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said the Municipality of Sibalom, through a private-public partnership (PPP), is being proposed to host the sanitary landfill for the clustered municipalities in the southern part of the province that still do not have their sanitary landfill.
“We conducted a visual examination of the 16-hectare proposed site for the sanitary landfill in Sibalom on November 4 last year and we found it also to be an ideal site,” she said in an interview.
The proposed site in Barangay Igcococ has an access road for the easy transport of solid waste materials from at least five municipalities.
“The other municipalities that could possibly be accommodated in the proposed sanitary landfill are Hamtic, Tobias Fornier, Anini-y, Belison, and San Remigio,” Maguad said.
At present, this capital town in the southern part of the province has the only operating sanitary landfill.
Maguad said they still have to wait for the assessment of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Western Visayas, which is among the requirements for their final report and issuance of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) of the project.
Likewise, the proposed site is still under negotiation by the municipal government from a private landowner.
“Under the PPP, the Sibalom Municipal Government will provide for the site while the private partner will construct and co-manage the sanitary landfill,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sibalom Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO) Rodel Esler said in a separate interview that the construction of the sanitary landfill is in adherence to Republic Act (RA) 9003, which is an Act that mandates the state to adopt a systematic, comprehensive and ecological SWM program.
“Sibalom Municipal Mayor Gian Carlo Occeña is very supportive of the RA 9003 that is why the municipality had been a regional awardee of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region 6 for its Outstanding Practices in SWM on June 29, 2021,” he said.
Sibalom, which does not have a landfill, is maintaining an Eco-Park in Barangay Iglanot where the solid wastes generated by residents are “being recycled, reduced, and reused”.
Esler said once Sibalom will have its sanitary landfill, the local government will still maintain the Eco-Park for its recycling and composting of wastes.PNA
