Bohol capital stinks as trash piles up

WASTE MANAGEMENT Tagbilaran City officials have promised to start collecting garbage around the Bohol provincial capital after it found an area to replace the local government-run dump that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources closed last week. PHOTOS BY LEO UDTOHAN

TAGBILARAN CITY — Stench has started wafting through sections of this city, the Bohol provincial capital, as trash started piling up along the streets four days after garbage collection was suspended when the city dump was closed by the environment department.

Arlene Pesquira, who lives on Graham Avenue in Barangay Booy, has to cover her nose in an attempt to fend off the foul smell from the garbage piles in front of their family’s house.

She said the neighborhood had been met with a pungent smell of “rotten fish.”

“It stinks already,” Pesquira, 43, a mother of four said.

Open dump

Tagbilaran has been generating at least 60 tons of garbage daily from 105,051 households.

The garbage collection was stopped on Nov. 20 after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a cease-and-desist order against the city government for operating an open dump, which is prohibited under Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Environment Undersecretary Benny Antiporda, the DENR official in charge of solid waste management and local government concerns, led the closure of the 2.6-hectare dump in Barangay Dampas.

Another Tagbilaran resident, Rosalinda Dacaldacal, 19, said she would hold her breath while waiting for a tricycle to get to school.

“I could not avoid the smell here,” she said.

Piles of uncollected garbage can also be seen along major streets, such as CPG Avenue, B. Inting Street, and Gallares Street.

Some contents were strewn along the sidewalks after stray dogs ripped them.

Barangay execs’ help

At home, Pesquira said she had to do her part and segregate garbage, separating biodegradable from nonbiodegradable waste.

“We will wait until they will collect the garbage,” Pesquira said.

Tagbilaran Mayor John Geesnell Yap II tapped barangay officials to ensure that cleanliness and proper sanitation were being observed in their respective communities.

In a message posted on Facebook, Yap assured residents that garbage collection would resume on Monday. The city’s collected trash would be dumped in a 200-square-meter lot in Barangay Cabawan while the dump in Barangay Dampas remained closed.

Yap appealed for discipline and asked residents to avoid throwing their trash anywhere.