BAGUIO CITY – To restore order in the city’s biggest barangay, the city government shut down the controversial 5.2-hectare open dumpsite in Irisan.

However, Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr. said the open dump will not be left at its present ugly state as City Hall will rehabilitate and convert it into a “greenbelt area” and ecotourism site.

To put a stop to the continuous complaints of the residents in the lower portion of the dump about the continuous spillover of wastes in their village, the city’s chief executive said the dumpsite will be covered with soil and retaining walls will be constructed around it to prevent the tons of garbage from spilling into Barangays Tadiangan and Nangalisan, Tuba town.

The continuous dumping of wastes at the dumpsite was traced as the root cause of a brewing conflict between the city government and residents of the barangay, and this led to the filing of charges and counter-charges between the two parties in the past several months.

With no more options left as the city government is still negotiating with nearby areas and some communities where its engineered sanitary landfill would be established, Mayor Bautista said, the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac will be the most feasible area where the city could dump its garbage for the meantime.

The Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. which operates the landfill in Tarlac is willing to accept the over 200 tons of garbage collected daily in the city.

Bautista said the city government has explored all possible means of facilitating the construction of the city’s sanitary landfill facility at any feasible place n the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) area, but the efforts were in vain.

The city has identified a five-hectare property in Barangay Sto. Tomas Apugan as its permanent site for its engineered sanitary landfill. But the plan is encountering stiff opposition from some residents who have claims over the property.

Even if the city government secures the social acceptability of the affected communities, the establishment of the engineered sanitary landfill would take three years. This means that the city government will have to continue hauling its garbage to Tarlac and spend big sums for the purpose.

As a stop-gap measure, the city is funding the construction of 15 materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in various parts of the city to serve clustered barangays and minimize the volume of waste being hauled to Tarlac.