DENR welcomes plan to open landfill to other towns

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — As neighboring Tagoloan town tries to send back the last batch of imported garbage from South Korea stored inside the Phividec Industrial Estate area, this city plans to open its sanitary landfill for a fee to accommodate garbage from neighboring towns.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu welcomed the proposal by city officials here.

“I discussed with Mayor Oscar Moreno his plan of letting muni¬cipalities use the sanitary landfill for a fee,” he told reporters on Thursday.

The city government opened its 45-hectare landfill in Pagalungan village even as it developed the former dump into an ecopark. —Jigger J. Jerusalem