Garbage dumped in Pulupandan ordered returned to San Enrique

San Enrique Mayor Jilson Tubillara has ordered the pull out of garbage that his town has dumped at a private property in Brgy. Palaka Sur in Pulupandan town as soon as possible.

Tubillara said that he, Pulupandan Mayor Miguel Antonio Peña and Valladolid Mayor Enrique Miravalles have already agreed that they recover all their garbage from the site.

“Once in a while our truck dump garbage in the area especially during bad weather,” Tubillara admitted yesterday.

The mayor said although there was no formal agreement between the land owner and the municipality, the former has requested them to dump their garbage as filling materials in his property.

“It is a controlled dumpsite where after dumping garbage you also dump soil. It’s not an open dumpsite,” he pointed out.
He added that it was not the truck owned by the San Enrique municipal government that was caught by personnel of the Pulupandan municipal government during an inspection in the area.

It was a truck owned by the Valladolid municipal government, Tubillara said.

He also said that the municipal government is not paying anything to the landowner as it was the owner who asked them to dump in his property.

Tubillara said that San Enrique has already opened its segregation facilities with composting machines from Senator Cynthia Villar.

A “cease and desist” order has been issued by Peña against a property owner in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, for operating an open dumpsite, with the garbage being dumped allegedly originating from a neighboring local government unit.

During a joint ocular inspection of Mila Lourdes Tandoy, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer and concurrent Municipal Health Office Sanitary Inspector, and Shellamite Labrador, Provincial Environment Monitoring Officer of Environment Management Bureau – Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Peña said they discovered that a government- owned dump truck entered and unloaded garbage, including what appeared to be medical waste, at the property of Novo Torres on September 1 in Brgy. Palaka Sur, Pulupandan.

Prior to the inspection, the mayor said they have received numerous reports that dump trucks, with markings of being government vehicles, entered the property loaded with garbage and left without their cargo.

He also stressed that the owner has no business permit to operate a dumpsite.

Peña, in his letter to Torres, disclosed that operating an open dumpsite is a violation of Republic Act 9003, known as the Ecological Solid Waste Program.

Tandoy said their investigations showed that Torres is a contractor and supplier of the municipal government of San Enrique.
Tandoy added that garbage has been unloaded twice or thrice a week at the open dumpsite since December last year.

Due to the hazardous nature of the waste and garbage, Peña said he ordered the property to stop the operations of illegal dumpsite, as directed in the issued CDO while investigations are ongoing.

“Due to the hazardous nature of the waste/garbage for the safety of Pulupandan residents, you are prohibited to remove the same, and your property shall be closed to the public, while we explore the proper disposal methods, which shall be charged to you,” the mayor, in his letter to Torres, dated Sept. 2, said.

Tubillara denied that they have dumped hazardous waste like medical waste, citing the fact that they have no hospital in the town.

It may belong to Valladolid because they have a district hospital there, he said.* (EYA)