OROQUIETA CITY – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said today the national government will subsidize 40 percent of the cost of establishing Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) for all barangays to help reduce some 300,000 tons of solid waste that the country generates each day and reduce emissions of methane from wastes, the second most lethal greenhouse gas next to carbon dioxide.
The President urged local government units (LGUs) to immediately establish these MRFs as the national government will subsidize 40 percent of the cost of every MRF that they would establish in their respective localities.
“For every six pesos that the LGUs will contribute, we will contribute four pesos,” the President said.
The President arrived Friday afternoon at the City Engineer’s Office in Barangay Upper Langcangan here with Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Manuel Gerochi and Undersecretary Carlos Gaudioso Garcia VI of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Global Warming and Climate Change.
The President visited this clean city as part of her weekly schedule to check on the compliance of local government units (LGUs) with Executive Order 774 to further promote awareness on solid waste management and the advancing threat of global warming and climate change.
Among those who warmly welcomed the President were some 500 residents, town mayors and vice mayors, barangay chairmen and heads of government regional offices led by Misamis Occidental Gov. Leo Ocampos, 1st District Rep. Marina Clarete, 2nd District Rep. Herminia Ramiro and Oroquieta City Mayor Jorge Almonte and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Region 10 Director Edwin Gatinao.
The President was given a briefing at the City Engineer’s Office by Governor Ocampos, Undersecretary Gerochi and Undersecretary Garcia on the status of the solid waste management and other environment protection programs.
Undersecretary Garcia said the President issued EO 774 last December to outline an action plan against carbon emissions and mitigate climate change through proper waste management that includes the establishment of Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and the practice of waste segregation, recycling and composting in all local government units (LGUs) including households.
Under the National Solid Waste Management Program, Undersecretary Gerochi reported there are 3,038 operational MRFs servicing 3,362 out of the 42,000 barangays in the country for a national compliance rate of 8 percent.
The President was pleased when Gerochi reported that there are 226 MRFs servicing 345 out of the total 2,020 barangays in Region 10 representing a 17 percent compliance rate.
“This is more than double our national average,” the President said.
Having 11 open and six controlled dumpsites in Misamis Occidental, Governor Ocampos reported a compliance rate slightly higher than the national average at 8.5 percent.
Ocampos said the province has established 19 MRFs servicing 41 barangays out of the province’s total of 490 barangays.
For Misamis Occidental, DENR Undersecretary Gerochi has recommended the establishment of an additional 449 MRFs at a cost of P183,000 each or a total of P82 million.
Gerochi said also needed is the setting up of 17 common facilities each worth P532,500 or a total of P9 million for the province's 14 municipalities.
These facilities would be used for making charcoal briquettes which can be sold at P16 per kilo as compared to the ordinary charcoal being sold at P20 per kilo.
For Oroquieta City, the President became more pleased when Gerochi reported that there are eight MRFs servicing 16 out of 47 barangays for a high 34 percent compliance rate or more than four times the national average, one of the best statistics in the country.
Waste segregation and composting is mandatory in the 47 barangays of Oroquieta City.
To date, the city brings its daily volume of some 180 cubic meters of segragated wastes into the city dumpsite where a pulverizer turns soft plastics into binders used in making bricks and hollow blocks.
A bioshredder, vermicomposting and windrow composting units also produce some 10 tons of biofertilizers sold at P200 per 50-kilogram bag particularly to farmers and vegetable and fruit growers.
The City Solid Waste Management Office reported that the use of 30 bags of organic fertilizers per hectare is cheaper by some P4,000 as compared to the use of commercial fertilizers.
The dumpsite also has a septic vault for the city’s residual wastes such as hazardous and toxic materials.
All of these were earlier inspected by the President upon her arrival here.
Gerochi said the DENR has recommended for Oroquieta City an additional 31 MRFs worth P5.7 million and a common facility for making charcoal briquettes.
Gerochi said Region 10, including Misamis Occidental and this city will truly become a “green community,” once these MRFs are fully-established.
In compliance with the President’s directive, TESDA Director Gatinao added he has directed the conduct of proper waste segregation and other cost-cutting measures in the six TESDA offices in Region 10.
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