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OFFICIALS of barangay Inayawan in Cebu City have asked City Hall to give them a share of profits from the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill to help them address problems that the landfill has caused residents.
In a resolution that the barangay council submitted yesterday, officials asked for a share of at least 30 percent of the landfill?s revenues as ?reparations.?
The Cebu City Council called for a financial report on the landfill from the City Treasurer?s Office and the council?s committee on budget and finance in the wake of the barangay?s request.
The barangay officials said an increasing number of Inayawan residents have developed upper respiratory tract infections caused by pollution from the landfill.
?The residents of barangay Inayawan have to bear with the stinking smell everyday, which, at times, just seems unbearable, especially to the most proximate sitios, indicative of severe air pollution,? said barangay officials, led by village chief Rustico Ignacio.
The barangay officials plan to use their share of revenues to put up preventive measures against air pollution and to improve health services to combat respiratory tract infection.
The officials said their request stemmed from the fire that broke out in the landfill last April, which took almost a month to put out.
Summer heat and methane gas, as well as flammable materials in the dumpsite, were tagged as causes.
Environment officials earlier pointed out that even though it is called a ?sanitary landfill,? the Inayawan facility had not been managed as such, and served more as an open dumpsite.
Open dumpsites emit methane gas into the air. The gas is flammable and can pose a health hazard to those who can smell it.
The city government recently awarded management of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill to a private company, FDRCon Co.
City Hall has also assigned Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. as deputy mayor for the landfill. /Reporter Marian Z. Codilla
