By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Laoag City—City government officials here favored the new location of the sanitary landfill at Brgy. Balatong, this city.
The LGU eyes a six-hectare lot for the project,
During a public hearing on the issue, with city officials led by Laoag vice mayor Franklin Dante A. Respicio, and Brgy. Balatong officials and residents, all stakeholders approved the location.
Laoag assessor Ruben Domingo said the residents approved the proposed project provided that the city government strictly follows all rules and regulations from construction and maintenance.
Mr. Domingo said the public hearing is one of the prerequisites for the issuance of Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), and the payment of the lots affected.
As of press time, the assessor said the city government is ready with the funding to purchase the lots.
He disclosed that lots near the streets costs around PHP200 per square meters while those that are away from streets costs PHP190. He surmised that the total cost for the lots is around PHP12 million.
Late last year, the city government of Laoag through the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved a PHP2 million funding as partial allocation for the purchase of lot on the proposed Laoag City Sanitary Landfill.
The council approved this unanimously and the City Development Council certified the project.
Following the allocation’s approval, the city government included the total amount included in this year’s annual budget.
Earlier, the DENR Mines Geosciences Bureau conducted soil testing in the area and it approved the location.
Originally, records showed that five persons owned the lots but due to their absences, their heirs will be the ones in charge.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) earlier ordered the current controlled dumpsite in the city for closure.
An earlier plan for the new sanitary landfill was for the Government of Laoag Employees’ Development Cooperative (GLEDCO) to partner with the city government in constructing and operating the project. The Commission on Audit, however objected to this. As a result, the city government temporarily shelved this plan.