BALIUAG, Bulacan—Residents and farmers here have complained of stench and pollution from an open dump in Barangay (village) Tarcan, saying the mountain of garbage, which is surrounded by rice fields, has killed crops and brought inconvenience to people.
But local officials said the dumping of garbage in Sitio (sub-village) Mulawin Bata had stopped three weeks ago and local government personnel have started hauling garbage out of the area.
Rolando Garcia, 48, who lives near the dump, said the stench surfaced as soon as government trucks began hauling out decaying trash from the dump.
Dolores Santos, village chair of Tarcan, said Mayor Romeo Estrella directed the town’s employees to clear the dump so it could serve as a materials recovery facility (MRF) for the town’s 27 villages.
The government tried but failed to convert the dump into an MRF in 2005.
“I hope they considered mitigating the stench before they began clearing the dump,” Garcia said.
He said the community blamed the dump for the death of a 65-year-old man from neighboring Barangay Matang Tubig, who tried to plant vegetables near the dump.
The man’s vegetable garden failed to flourish, forcing him to return to his village where he died of a respiratory illness, he said.
Garcia, who also tends a farm here, blamed the dump for the severe diarrhea suffered by a 2-year-old boy in their neighborhood, after he drank water coming from a deep well near the facility.
Garcia said rice plants near the dump were destroyed by libak (leachate or liquid from decaying garbage) seeping into the soil beneath the dump.
Santos acknowledged the problem. “When people still threw garbage at this dump, it definitely affected the farms. The trash here has accumulated for many years,” she said.
Sitio Mulawin Bata hosted the town’s dump when government closed another dump in Barangay Tarcan, which overlooks the south lane of Maharlika Highway. Motorists used to complain about the stench whenever they crossed that highway.
But the Baliuag government had to close the dump in Mulawin Bata when complaints about the stench mounted.
Ferdie Estrella, president of the Association of Barangay Councils here, said the town government is determined to clear the dump.
“No one has dumped there in three weeks… Each day, 10 trucks haul off trash. Government will make sure the dump will be emptied of garbage,” he said. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon