Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has appealed to local government units (LGUs) in Cavite to help address the worsening garbage problem by proposing the establishment of a sanitary landfill and improve solid waste management in the province.
Cimatu said the poor solid waste management in Cavite is affecting government’s effort to rehabilitate Manila Bay, noting that uncollected garbage find their way into rivers that drain to Manila Bay.
Cimatu, chairman of the Manila Bay Task Force, along with some DENR officials met with Cavite Governor Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla and several mayors in the province to appeal for the local officials’ help and cooperation in addressing solid waste, as well as water quality management issues, especially in the six major river systems in the province.
The meeting was held at the Oasis Hotel in Imus on June 24. Local chief executives of the cities of Cavite, General Trias and Trece Martires, and the municipalities of Amadeo, GMA, Indang, Mendez, Naic, Silang, and Tanza also attended the meeting.
Also present during the meeting were City Environment and Natural Resources Officers; Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officers; and representatives from the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, Manila Bay Coordinating Office, and regional offices of the DENR, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Environmental Management Bureau, and Department of the Interior and Local Government.
During the meeting, DENR Calabarzon Regional Executive Director Nilo B. Tamoria identified Cavite’s six major rivers as Imus River, Zapote River, Rio Grande-Ylang-Ylang River, Cañas River, Labac River and Maragondon River, all of which empty out into the historic bay.
“We cannot complete the rehabilitation of Manila Bay if we will not solve the garbage problem in the province. There is a very big connection between that,” Cimatu said in a news statement.
“The only way for us to solve the problem of Manila Bay is to solve the garbage problem and water quality of the rivers in Cavite,” he added.
Remulla said solid waste management is the No. 1 problem of Cavite when it comes to the environment, as he noted that an estimated 50 percent of solid waste in the province goes to its rivers accounting to approximately 2,000 tons a day, of which 90 percent goes to Manila Bay.
According to Remulla, 21 of the 23 cities and municipalities of the province “do not have the capacity to put up their own solid waste facility because of the limitations of land.” He appealed for the DENR to help in setting up a sanitary landfill.
In January, the DENR together with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) closed down a 6-hectare open dumpsite in Tanza, Cavite for violating Republic Act 9003 or the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.”
The DENR, its Environmental Management Bureau and NBI have locked up the entry points of the privately-owned open dumpsite located at Barangay Sahud-Ulan.
Cimatu explained that due to the recent rainfalls, trash from various waterways, including those from the rivers of Cavite drift to Manila Bay, countering the latest significant improvements in the Baywalk area in terms of coliform level and solid waste collection.
He added that the evident increase in garbage in the rivers may be attributed to the closure of all dumpsites in the province in compliance with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
“I’d like to appeal to the Mayors of Cavite to please help us,” Cimatu pleaded.