By LITO RULONA Correspondent City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office (Clenro) chief Edwin Dael appealed to local barangay officials to support the full implementation of RA 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. Dael made the appeal after many barangay chief executives commented that the city’s implementation of the Solid Waste Management and Segregation Policy is not getting full support from the local populace. During the city council committee on environment and natural resources meeting last Friday, Dael said they find implementing the national law difficult. Dael said during the meeting that the city government has been violating the law since 2006, which supposedly created three kinds of stages of dump sites. “Atong nga duga sa basura dili gyud unta moadto sa atong mga aqua area. Methane gas should be controlled. Sa atong bag-o sa barangay Pagalungan duna kita’y duha ka liners nga maoy magamit,” he said. He said the city should have established a sanitary landfill in 2006 as mandated by RA 9003. “Ang sanitary landfill nga naa karon kamulo na gi construct sa IPM Corporation sa Sitio Pagalu-ngan, mao kini ang area na gibutangan ug liners aron ang duga sa atong basura dili moadto sa atong underground water or sa mga creeks ug kasubaan. Naay collection pipe ug collection pan diin didto i-treat before ipagawas sa water systems,” he said. Under the law, a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) shall be installed to receive, sort, process, and store compostable and recyclable material efficiently and in an environmentally sound manner. “It mandates barangays to implement waste reduction at source through segregation at source, reuse, and recycling, establish MRFs in every barangay and/or cluster of barangays and organize the Barangay Ecological Solid Waste Management Committee (BESWMC) headed by the barangay chair,” the law reads in part. But Gusa barangay chairman Marlon Tabac aired his concern that Clenro should also re-echo the law down to the household level to reduce the throwing of non-biodegradable trash. “Karon misaka ang basura nga gi-collect sa barangay pero walay technology nga gitudlo sa Clenro down to the household level or the community –– segregation from source kini,” he said. Tabac also urged the Clenro to form the five-year Barangay Ecological Solid Waste Management Plan to all urban and rural barangays because local barangay officials could also be facing charges before the Ombudsman. He said by October, all barangay chair would be facing charges before the Ombudsman if they failed to implement the RA 9003 at the barangay level as warned by the Solid Waste Management Commission in Malacañang.