Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Monday revealed a plan to build a compliant sanitary landfill in Cavite to help manage its garbage problem that is affecting the ongoing Manila Bay rehabilitation project.
Cimatu, chairman of the Manila Bay Task Force, met with Cavite Gov. Juanito Victor Remulla and the mayors of Cavite to discuss ways to encourage their cooperation in addressing solid waste and water quality management issues in the six major river systems in the province.
“We cannot complete the rehabilitation of Manila Bay if we will not solve the garbage problem in the province. There is a very big connection between that,” Cimatu said.
“The only way for us to solve the problem of Manila Bay is to solve the garbage problem and water quality of the rivers in Cavite,” he added.
In a statement, Remulla said solid waste management is the Number One problem of Cavite when it comes to the environment, citing that an estimated 50 percent of solid waste in Cavite goes to its rivers accounting to approximately 2,000 tons a day, of which 90 percent goes to Manila Bay.
He said 21 of the 23 cities and municipalities of the province “do not have the capacity to put up their own solid waste facility because of the limitations of land” of which he appealed for the DENR to help in setting up a sanitary landfill.
On the other hand, Cimatu said that due to the recent rainfalls, trash from various waterways, including those from the rivers of Cavite drift to Manila Bay, countering the latest significant improvements in the Baywalk area in terms of coliform level and solid waste collection.
The evident increase in garbage in the rivers may be attributed to the closure of all dumps in the province in compliance with Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, he said.
“I’d like to appeal to the mayors of Cavite to please help us,” Cimatu said.