Abacan River claimed as virtual dump site

February 4, 2011

ANGELES CITY – The Abacan River, which runs through at least nine villages here, has been a dump site for several decades now, according to members of the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM).
PGKM member Sonny Dobles, also of the Regional Development Council (RDC) in Central Luzon, said several parts of the river serve as a dump site for residents in adjacent barangays like Anunas, Balibago, Sapang Bato and Pampang, among others.
He was reacting to a statement issued by city officials, including Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, who claimed there are no open dump sites in Angeles City.

According to Dobles, Barangay Anunas has the biggest dump site of the cited villages.
He also said his group is willing to help solve the garbage problem here and in other parts of Pampanga.
Dobles also denounced the burning of garbage in Barangay Lara in the City of San Fernando, which he claimed is killing the people living near the dump site.
Pamintuan earlier said the city no longer maintains and operates open or controlled dump sites as earlier reported by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The city is one of the local government units (LGUs) in Pampanga warned by the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for maintaining an open dump site.
“DENR-EMB did not issue a closure order on any Angeles dump site and we no longer have one in the city. What we have here is a transfer station, or a material recovery facility (MRF) in Barangay Pampang,” Pamintuan earlier said.
He added that after segregation at the MRF, garbage is taken to the sanitary landfill in Montalban, Rizal.
Barangay Balibago chairman Rodelio Mamac, for his part, said that there is no open dump site in his village and that the tons of garbage produced in the city can be found on the side of Barangay Duquit in the nearby town of Mabalacat.

Mamac was accompanied by Pamintuan during an inspection at an old dump site along a creek at Sitio Hadrian that connects Barangays Balibago and Duquit in Mabalacat.
Pamintuan, on the other hand, said he already spoke with Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales and that the town’s solid waste management council will work on the immediate cleanup and rehabilitation of the Duquit creek.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje recently asked the Central Luzon EMB to close down all open or controlled dump sites beginning January 27.

Ordered closed were dumps in the City of San Fernando and Angeles City and in the towns of Arayat, Floridablanca, Guagua, Mabalacat, Macabebe, Magalang, Masantol, Mexico, Minalin, Porac, San Luis, Sasmuan, Sta. Ana and Sto. Tomas.
Based on copies of notices of closure, DENR regional director Ricardo Calderon said Pampanga local governments have failed to comply with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (Republic Act 9003). (Reynaldo G. Navales)

Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/abacan-river-claimed-virtual-dump-site