BINALIW LANDFILL. Service crew are seen capping with soil after spraying with neutralizing agents and deodorizers to the garbage brought to the Arn Central Waste Management landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City on Monday, June 10, 2019. The landfill management ensured the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-7) and the residents in Binaliw to seal their process to avoid further environmental hitches in the future. (Contributed photo)
CEBU CITY – The management of a controversial sanitary landfill in an upland village here has denied speculations that a politician partly owns the facility.
Sherwin Santos, president of Arn Central Waste Management Inc., said there is no truth to the rumors that the facility’s continued operation despite opposition from the residents of Barangay Binaliw is due to the backing of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
In a statement sent to the Philippine News Agency (PNA), Santos said the outgoing mayor is not an owner of the facility, clarifying however that the company’s permit to operate was approved during this term of office.
He revealed that the facility is a corporation run by “respected but low-key Cebu-based businessmen” Joselito Gullas, Mario King, and Engineer Arnold Espinoza.
Gullas is a scion of a university and hospital owner here, and former president of The Freeman, Cebu’s oldest existing newspaper. On the other hand, King, Cebu’s 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year awardee, is engaged in finance, auto supply, and real estate business, and also sits as director of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council. Espinoza is a contractor of various public works here.
According to Santos, the facility in Binaliw, when completed, will have one of the largest intake capacity in the entire country.
“This is the first of its kind to integrate various waste management solutions in one complex, this includes engineered sanitary landfill, material recovery facility, waste-water treatment facility, hazardous waste treatment facility and industrial waste treatment facility,” Santos said.
“Soon, our facility will be the first to include waste to energy component into its already integrated design,” he added.
The president of the firm running the waste management facility justified their operation, which started even before their scheduled formal opening, stressing that the accident in the landfill in Consolacion town that killed a driver forced them to begin accepting tons of garbage from this city and neighboring local government units.
“Because of the call for public service, we have begun servicing Metro Cebu after the accident at the landfill in Consolacion town, even before our scheduled formal opening,” he said.
He said the company has completed the needed permits from the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-7), adding that they are complying with the additional requirements as a result of the waste material supposedly for Consolacion landfill but are brought to their facility in Binaliw.
After the technical conference conducted at the EMB-7 office on Friday, Santos said the company strived to work with the truck operators, concerned residents, and barangay officials “to ensure the delivery of odorless waste materials”.
“We hope to continue serving the Cebuanos as part of our commitment as good corporate citizens,” he said. “Let us go beyond the misunderstandings that arose from the recent political exercise and move forward towards progress and development.”
Santos’ statement came after Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. claimed in a radio interview that the city administration approved in haste the operation of the waste management facility in Binaliw because the mayor is part-owner of the company running it.
Alcover, however, failed to substantiate his claims, but said that the City Council dominated by councilors allied with Osmeña, hastily approved the agreement and permit to operate in favor of Arn Central Waste Management Inc.
Meanwhile, Apas village councilman Ramil Ayuman vowed to fight for the rights of his constituents who had been relocated to Binaliw but harrowing with the foul odor emitting from the garbage dumped in the Binaliw landfill. (PNA)
