Mini-dumpsite

Dave Achondo

LAST week, I criticized officials of a barangay for not doing their job. I apologize for an error. It was Barangay 35, and not Barangay 31, that was breaking the law, specifically Republic Act 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

If ever you have passed the Pearlmont Hotel area, your would see a very “nice” and “commendable” mini-dumpsite. There, you would see the following: sacks of dirt, a chicken house, a “lump” on the sidewalk made of garbage and soil. Beside it is the barangay’s poor excuse for segregated garbage containers. This is the barangay’s so-called “compliance” to the RA 9003. They failed with “flying colors,” if there is such a thing).

I have seen that same s**t in the past months and that was before the May 15 implementation by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Commission, and the City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) under Edwin Dael who appealed to barangay officials in the city to comply with RA 9003.

They said they would conduct a surprise visit to barangays and check if they have complied with the order, and that they would punish the barangay chiefs if they didn’t. However, they were just pumping smoke up everyone’s a**es.

I doubt they have even started their surprise visit because if they did, Barangay 35 would be the first to be questioned.

They should see the atrocity Barangay 35 is doing. That area smells like animal feces on a daily basis — and that’s supposed to be on a good day. You do not want to be in the area during its bad days.

I don’t think the Clenro and the Commission are blind, and can’t see what Barangay 35 is doing wrong, and I doubt if they can’t smell it. But hello, siyaro wamo ka bantay unsay gina buhat sa Barangay 35 or ana lang gyud mo kabota ug puro ramo storya?

Barangay Macasandig has already been trying its best to implement RA 9003 since May when both the agencies urged all barangay officials to enforce and implement the law. They have been strictly enforcing it and because of that, it has been annoying, but understandably, they are doing their job. And who could blame them?

However, Barangay 35 seems to be above the law, and the agencies are not doing anything.

The agencies have already warned that barangay officials would face charges if they do not implement the law. But did this happen? Where and when? For as long as I have been passing through that area, all I can see are garbage layered with soil.

The barangay chairman allows that in his/her barangay. That passivity tells a lot about the village politician.

Whoever allowed and gave the idea that it was OK to create or allow a mini-dumpsite and compose area on the side of the road should be kicked out of office. As harsh as my words may seem, the chairman earned it. I see him or her to be an incompetent official. And we already have a lot of that, and this official is simply adding to the problem.

You have allowed your constituents to create a compose area on the side of the road, and the barangay itself is just a arms length. You allowed this to continue?

I sincerely hope that the barangay officials would do something before somebody slap them with photos of their mini-dumpsite.

I guess this is something not only for the officials of Barangay 35 but all the others who, until now, failed to implement RA 9003.

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Misamis Oriental Gov. Bambi Emano reportedly created a technical working group for the implementation of the Solid Waste Management in the capitol and province. He might be serious. But I have yet to see such a thing.