Task ahead for Baguio: P100M to rebuild wall around dump

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—It may take the city government more time, and more than P100 million, to rebuild a wall around a decommissioned dump that toppled and killed six people last month and which authorities are planning to convert into a park.

The 37-year-old dump in Barangay Irisan collapsed at the height of Typhoon Mina. The mound of garbage remaining in the dump survived the onslaught of Typhoon “Pedring” on Tuesday.

Giant sheets of tarpaulin prevented rainwater from saturating the mound. “We prayed really hard it would stay up,” said Cordelia Lacsamana, city environment officer.

The city’s bigger concern, however, is to rebuild as soon as possible a 10-meter high reinforcement wall built from 2009-2011 to enclose the dump.

The city government has two options in its plan to convert the area into a park—let the garbage stay, stabilize it and put top soil on it or haul out 10,000 truckloads of existing trash in the next two years.

City officials said a decision has been reached to reduce the volume of trash and rebuild a stronger wall.

Leo Bernardeez, city engineer, said a check showed that the original wall’s foundation could still be used as well as a leachate (liquid from decaying garbage) tank under the dump’s base.

Investigation teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the city government have yet to release any report to explain the accident. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon