Coron set to close dumpsite

The municipal government of Coron will soon shut down its open dumpsite to give way to the operation of a sanitary landfill in compliance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management (ESWM) Act of 2000.

Mun ic ipa l administrator Jonathan Dabuit said Friday they are set to receive an assistance of P2.5 million from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR EMB) for the safe closure of the dumpsite.

Earlier this May, he said that Mayor Ajerico Barracoso, along with other mayors from MIMAROPA, had signed an agreement in relation to the financial support with DENR EMB Regional Director Socorro Abu.

“We have already identified a landfill site in Barangay San Nicolas. It got an approval from the DENR Mines and Geosciences Bureau, even as it complied with the public consultation requirement, paving the way for the issuance of a barangay resolution,” Dabuit told Palawan News.

Section 37 of the ESWM bans local government units from establishing and operating open dumpsites.

Dabuit, however, said the six-hectare proposed sanitary landfill site in San Nicolas has been opposed by the Tagbanua indigenous people (IP) community that has been claiming it as part of their ancestral land claims.

“Now, we’re asking the DENR to help us in our appeal to the NCIP (National Commissions on Indigenous Peoples),” he said, adding that they will have a meeting next month to settle the issue.

Dabuit said if it’s not possible for the IP community to release the area, Mayor Barracoso will ask the DENR to identify a public land that would serve as the site for the town landfill.