The owners of the lone dumpsite of Bacolod in Barangay Felisa are demanding payment from the city government for the use of their property within 30 days from receipt of their letter or they will be constrained to close it down.

Ester Lopez of Dynasty Agricultural Corp., in her letter to Mayor Evelio Leonardia, dated Feb. 22, 2008, said they are demanding compensation of P600 per square meter or a total of about P42 million.

Their property with an area of about 70,000 square meters has been utilized by the city as a dumpsite for free for several years now, Lopez said. 

They have observed that the dumpsite has adversely affected the productivity of their adjacent lots and that they believe it is high time the city compensates them for the use of their property, she said.

Councilor Greg Gasataya, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Ecology, yesterday said the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed a resolution Wednesday requesting the mayor to ask the owners of the property for an extension of their deadline.

The Clean and Green Coordinating Team, which he chairs, met Tuesday and recommended that the mayor be requested to convene the Appraisal Committee, composed of the Offices of the City Engineer’s, City Treasurer’s and City Assessor’s, to appraise the property that is being sold to the city, Gasataya said.

The City Engineer’s Office and the Department of Public Services surveyed the area yesterday and once they submit their report, this will be endorsed to the mayor, Gasataya said.

The City Planning and Development Office and other members of the technical working group will also prepare the requirements necessary for the property to be used as a dumpsite, he said.

The property has already been issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate for a controlled dumpsite, he added.

They started negotiations with the owners of the property in January yet together with the mayor, Councilor Dindo Ramos and some engineers, he said. The counsel of the Lopez family proposed to sell five hectares of the property to the city, Gasataya said.

Since his appointment as chairman of the Clean and Green Committee, they were able to remove about 30 mini dumpsites in the different areas of the city and these areas were landscaped by the Clean and Green team, Gasataya said.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. in Bacolod City responded positively to the call of the mayor to fix or tighten its telecom lines as part of the Clean and Green program of the city.

PLDT Bacolod Business Zone head Renato Santillan, in his letter to Leonardia dated February 29, said they have already started fixing they wires along the Luxur’s Place area up to the corner of Galo and Lacson streets, and from Hernaez-Araneta streets to Plaza Mart.

They will try to cover the whole city as soon as they get the necessary logistics, he said.

PLDT-Bacolod has been using local funds that are limited so they cannot cover the whole city, Leonardia said. He will write PLDT Manila requesting that they fix their telecom lines in the whole of Bacolod City so that his letter can be used by the local PLDT office as justification for their request, the mayor said.*CGS

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