An official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Oriental Negros said local government units should not blame the agency for the impending closure of all open dumpsites throughout the province.

DENR provincial officer Antonio Cabrido made the statement as he announced that the agency was preparing to close all open dumpsites in the country to comply with Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

The law gave LGUs three to five years after it took effect to convert their open dumpsites into controlled dumpsites and later build a sanitary landfill.

Cabrido clarified that the DENR had acceded to the appeal of the LGUs to give them until January 26 to comply with the law. The deadline was later moved to February 15.

But, he said, his monitoring of local government units throughout the province showed that none of them had complied with the law, much less build a sanitary landfill.

Moreover, Cabrido said, the DENR had agreed to the request of LGUs to cluster themselves and build a common sanitary landfill, but this had not also been complied with

. Until the deadline last week, he said, the DENR had not seen any "concrete" move from the LGUs and now he is ready to submit his report to their central office.

Cabrido lamented that environmental programs were not given priority in the allocation of funds from the internal revenue allotments of LGUs.*RG

back to top