Sultan Kudarat, Philippines

TACURONG CITY — A sanitary landfill worth P4 million has started operations recently.

The landfill is the first category 2 waste disposal facility that has become functional in Mindanao.
Zoilo L. Andin Jr., executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, lauded the local government for its pioneering venture.

The landfill was materialized with the help of the Philippine Environmental Governance Project 2, a program funded by the United State Agency for International Development.

“I hope your initiative will be replicated in other parts of the country. For me, this is a model project and I will bring to your place local government officials who wish to have study tour on proper waste disposal methods,” Andin said during the launching ceremony.

The 6,000 square meter waste facility sits on a four-hectare property located in Barangay Upper Katungal, about four kilometers from the national highway.

A sanitary landfill is an engineered garbage disposal site, which is properly designed, constructed, operated and maintained in a manner that poses the least environmental impacts. BSS

Sun.Star General Santos 

TACURONG CITY, Philippines — A sanitary landfill here worth P4 million has started operations recently, marking the first time such a Category 2 waste disposal facility became functional in Mindanao.

Zoilo L. Andin, Jr., executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, lauded the local government for its pioneering venture that was materialized with the help of the Philippine Environmental Governance Project 2, a program funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The 6,000-square-meter waste facility sits on a four-hectare property located in Barangay Upper Katungal, about four kilometers from the national highway.

A sanitary landfill is an engineered garbage disposal site, which is properly designed, constructed, operated and maintained in a manner that poses the least environmental impacts.

GMANews.tv 

by CG Valdez and MC Locsin

Koronadal City (20 May) — The local government of Tacurong, a fifth class component city of the Province of Sultan Kudarat, inaugurated Thursday last week (May 15, 2008) its P4 million-worth sanitary landfill (SLF), the first of its kind in Mindanao.

The 6,000 square meter waste facility sits on a four-hectare property of this City located in Barangay Upper Katungal, a distance of more than four kilometers from the national highway.

A sanitary landfill is an engineered garbage disposal site which is properly designed, constructed, operated and maintained in a manner that poses the least environmental impacts.

The Tacurong SLF is equipped with a Materials Recovery Facility where the recyclable materials are classified, a composting facility, a nursery and a demonstration farm which are already operational. It can accommodate greater than 15 tons to 75 tons of garbage per day (Category 2, Handbook on the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) to service the populace of Tacurong City and its neighboring municipalities.

During the inauguration, Municipal Mayor Rodolfo Erese of nearby President Quirino town expressed their interest to avail of the services of the Tacurong SLF.

In 2003, the Waste Analysis and Characterization Study conducted by the USAID-funded Philippine Environmental Governance 2 Project (EcoGov 2) forecasted that Tacurong City will generate a total of 36 tons of garbage per day in 2008. As such, the Tacurong SLF which will be expanded as the need arises, can still accommodate garbage from other municipalities.

The project has been provided with technical assistance from EcoGov 2, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) under the Office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In his message, Atty. Zoilo L. Andin, Jr., Executive Director of the NSWMC Secretariat declared that the City’s SLF will be a model site for residual waste disposal. “Our leaders are in constant search of models that they can emulate and probably improve on… On behalf of NSWMC Chairman and DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, I will issue an official certificate of recognition to the City of Tacurong naming this facility as the Model Sanitary Landfill Category II… I am hoping that very soon, you will not be known only in the Philippines but also abroad,” Andin said.

Regional Technical Director Musa C. Saruang who represented DENR Region XII Executive Director Jim O. Sampulna called on the audience to join hands in the fight against waste citing the role of the media in bringing to the consciousness of the people the significance of proper waste management to our health, economy, and our environment. “Open dump site must be a thing of the past not only because it is now prohibited by law but it has brought so many diseases to our homes like typhoid fever, malaria, gastroenteritis and a host of other illnesses,” Sampulna’s statement said.

Ms. Aurelia Micko, Deputy Chief Office of Energy and Environment of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Philippines, assisted by Vice- Mayor Charito Collado, cut the ceremonial ribbon which officially marked the opening of the waste disposal facility. A ceremonial dumping of residual wastes and a tree planting immediately followed the inaugural rites.

Also in attendance were Tacurong City Sangguniang Panglunsod Chair on Environment Joselito L. Cajandig, City Administrator Eduardo Nicolo who represented Mayor Lino O. Montilla, and DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region XII Director Constancio A. Paye Jr. (DENR XII/PIA SarGen)

TACURONG CITY - A suspected member of Al Khobar Group, a local terrorist gang allegedly responsible for several bombings in Central Mindanao, was arrested here by policemen last week.

Chief Superintendent Felizardo Serapio Jr., Central Mindanao police director, said Ryan Aldubsamad, 35, was nabbed last Thursday after trying to pass through a checkpoint while in possession of an unlicensed .45 pistol.

Policemen manning the checkpoint immediately relayed to the Central Mindanao police intelligence division the suspect’s name.

Background investigation showed that Abdulmasad is a member of Al Khobar. The information came from a supplementary judicial confession of an arrested member of the terrorist group.

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