The trash slide that killed three (3) in Barangay New Cabalan, Olongapo City at the height of typhoon Pedring last year changed the configuration of the sanitary landfill system to be built in the city, increasing the project cost to more than P400 M.

The Olongapo City Council unanimously approved the resolution for an additional P 76 M loan to fund the project, as the city government’s project consultant presented a study showing that the only other option for Olongapo is to dispose of its garbage in the nearest landfill, which is in Clark, and spend a lot more.

The Development Bank of the Philippines approved last year a P 383.3 million loan for the construction of an engineered sanitary landfill system in Olongapo. 

Nonetheless, the loan was ratified by a vote of 7-4 on October 10, 2011, nearly two weeks after a trash slide at the New Cabalan dumpsite triggered by typhoon Pedring killed three people. 

“The September 27, 2011 trash-slide caused by typhoon Pedring significantly increased the trash area and created changes in the landscape of the New Cabalan dumpsite.

These changes produced additional costs to the design and construction of a new landfill cell because the trash slide covered the area where the cell was to be built,” ESMO Consultant Engineer Isabelo Catigbac, explained at the committee hearing before the city council voted on the additional loan.

In the same hearing, New Cabalan Bgy. Capt. Rafael Lim appealed for expeditious action on the proposed landfill as he reported the present condition of the controlled dumpsite.

“Kung saan-saan na lumulusot yung katas ng basura kaya po makikita nyo yung likod ng dumpsite natin baka bumagsak na po. Hindi po natin mapipigilan ito. Kase po ang inaaalala po namin dun na wag na maulit yung tragedy,” Lim said.

RA 9003 also known as an “An Act Providing for an Ecological Solid Waste Management Program” mandates that cities should provide for a long-term sanitary landfill system.