Ecija LGU inks pact with firm for sanitary landfill

PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The city government has signed a lease agreement with a waste-to-energy corporation to put up a sanitary landfill in a 20-hectare area in this provincial capital. The lease agreement was signed between Mayor Romeo Capinpin representing the city government of Palayan and Juanito Ho, chairman of the Ecosci Corporation, a firm based in Diliman, Quezon City. The project is proposed to be set up in Barangay Imelda Valley which has been certified as an ideal site for a sanitary landfill in a joint survey conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Ecosci and a resident geodetic engineer of the city government. Earlier, the city council led by Vice Mayor Moises Carmona Jr. passed Resolution 37 authorizing Capinpin to enter into a lease agreement with Ecosci for the setting up of the waste disposal facility. Under the agreement, the city government as the lessor will lease the facility to the lessee (Ecosci) for a 25-year period renewable for another 25 years at a cost of P700,000 per year. However, this could be increased to P1 million per year when the daily waste disposal has reached 73 trucks per day for 30 consecutive days. The agreement also stipulates that an expansion area of another 20 hectares will be provided for the landfill project. Capinpin said that the project, which will cost P30 million for its first phase, will absorb not only residual wastes produced by the city but the entire province as well. He said the project is in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act which stipulate the closure of open and controlled dumpsites. Lawyer Norberto Coronel, city legal officer, said the landfill project is necessary as the city government already shut down its open dumpsite in Barangay Atate. He admitted that the city now has no available disposal facility following the closure of the Atate dumpsite. Ecosci will commence excavation works in October. The Palayan sanitary landfill is the second known landfill project in the province. A similar project, worth P138-million, is also under construction in a 22-hectare site in the Science City of Munoz some seven kilometers from the city proper, which is projected to absorb up to 150 metric tons of household residual wastes in northern Nueva Ecija. The Munoz facility is expected to operate before the end of the year. – Manny Galvez

Umali asks Comelec : ‘let Ecijano voters cast vote on Cabanatuan’s HUC bid’

Umali asks Comelec : ‘let Ecijano voters cast vote on Cabanatuan’s HUC bid’ Manny Galvez CABANATUAN CITY – Nueva Ecija Gov. Aurelio Umali has asked the Commission on Elections to consider allowing qualified voters in the whole province to cast their vote on a plebiscite to ratify Presidential Proclamation 418 issued by President Aquino proclaiming this city as a highly urbanized city. In a five-page letter-petition to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. dated July 9, which was made public yesterday, Umali said that while Section 453 of Republic Act 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 provides for the conduct of a plebiscite to ratify the proclamation, the ratification in a plebiscite by the qualified voters therein must be read and understood in conjunction with Section 10, Article 10 of the Constitution which provides that no province, city, municipality or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected. A copy of the petition was also furnished Comelec deputy executive director for operations Bartolome Sinocruz Jr. Umali said that the province is clearly and exactly the political unit or units directly affected by the conversion of Cabanatuan into HUC because its income, population, land area and boundaries will be substantially altered and irreversibly reduced. He noted that since the land area of Cabanatuan will be deducted from that of Nueva Ecija, the province will be at a disadvantage on account of the massive decrease in its share from the internal revenue allotment which is based on land area and population. Umali said the provincial government has not been receiving taxes due it from the city government of Cabanatuan, be it taxes on sand, gravel and other quarry resources, professional taxes, or amusement taxes. Lastly, he said registered voters of Cabanatuan can no longer vote for and be voted to provincial elective positions and the provincial government shall no longer exercise administrative supervision over the city government, including its power to review all executive orders submitted by the city government and the power of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to review the resolutions and ordinances adopted and approved by the Sangguniang Panglungsod. In batting for the inclusion of all qualified Novo Ecijano voters in the plebiscite to ratify the proclamation, Umali cited existing jurisprudence, foremost of which is a July 11,1986 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Tan vs Comelec regarding the creation of a new province of Negros del Norte wherein 2,768.4 square kilometers from the land area of the parent province will be removed to create a new province whose boundaries will be substantially altered. Umali mentioned the separate concurring opinion of Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee who stated that to limit the plebiscite to only the areas to be partitioned and seceded from the province is “as absurd and illogical as allowing only the secessionists to vote for the secession that they demanded against the wishes of the majority and to nullify the basic principle of majority rule.”

DOLE RO3 achieves 100% Disposition Rate on SENA Cases

In 2011, DOLE RO3 achieves 100% Disposition Rate on SENA Cases, settles 81 % of it resulting to Php. 15.3 Million Monetary Benefits for 1,512 Workers from Central Luzon

City of San Fernando – The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLEs) Single Entry Approach (SENA) is proven and tested and hailed as the number 1 inexpensive way of settling labor disputes in Central Luzon says DOLE Regional Director Leopoldo B. De Jesus.

In his report to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, the DOLE Regional Office 3 garnered an astounding 100 percent disposition rate of the 941 SENA Cases it handled in 2011. This represented a 2-percentage point overshot of the DOLE’s annual target of 98 percent said De Jesus.

Of the total cases handled, 654 were amicably settled registering a settlement rate of 81 percent, which again overshot the DOLE’s annual target of 70 percent, where monetary claims amounting Php. 15,326,943.34 benefited 1,512 workers all over the region.

The average days for the DOLE-SENA Desk Officers (SEADOs) to conciliate and resolve the said cases with parties involved were ahead of the 30-day standard set by the SENA Program, some of which, if not settled within the day, were only settled within a few hours, De Jesus added.

In the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, for instance, Ms. May Garcia sought the help of the DOLE RO3 after her husband who was a driver for a certain construction company, was instantly killed in a self-accident while driving a transit mixer inside the Clark Special Economic Zone on June 2011.

According to Garcia, she has not received any financial assistance she very much needed from the company where her husband worked for since she had limited financial capacity to support their children.

She has exhausted every means like going to the barangay, seeking legal assistance, and the likes to get help, but it was only through the DOLE’s SENA, through the help of SENA Desk Officer, Ms. May Lynn Gozun, that was she able to receive the financial assistance she is demanding from the company. Just within two (2) hours of mediation and conciliation, the company provided the said financial assistance amounting to Php 166,000.00.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa DOLE dahil sa kanilang tulong, ang hinihingi naming tulong pinansyal ay ipinagkaloob din ng kumpanya lalo na sa mga panahong pagdadalmhati sa aming pamilya” Garcia tearfully said.

“I am lauding our Regional and Provincial SEADOs for their valued efforts in keeping and sustaining industrial peace within this region. They have been equipped with the adequate training and orientation on the SENA and likewise strategically mastered the beauty and art of conciliation and mediation between opposing parties engaged in labor disputes” proudly said De Jesus.

“This year, we will further intensify our efforts, if not maintain, surpass the feat we’ve accomplished in 2011 to ensure that harmonious relationships will continue to linger between labor and management in all industries in Central Luzon. (Jerry Borja)

NE LGUs humihingi ng suporta sa publiko sa solid waste management

STA. ROSA, Nueva Ecija - Ayaw ng mga lokal na pamahalaan sa lalawigan na magkaroon ng problema sa basura.

Bukod sa panganib ng baha, sinabi ni Sta. Rosa Municipal Administrator Ruben Esquejo na naniniwala ang pamunuan ng kanilang bayan, sa pangunguna ni Mayor Otep Angeles, na magdudulot ng banta sa kalusugan kung hindi maayos ang pagpapatupad ng Solid Waste Management Act.

Ito rin ang dahilan kaya nagsagawa ng patimpalak nitong Disyembre ang bawat tanggapan ng kanilang munisipiyo gamit ang mga luma o ni-recycle na materyales gaya ng kutsara, tinidor, bote ng mineral water at iba pa.

Nilalayon ng patimpalak na palawakin ang kaalaman ng mga mamamayan hinggil sa batas at sa waste segregation upang mas madaling makapag-kumbinsi ng mga tao.

Bukod sa kampanya, isinaayos din ng pamahalaang bayan ang kanilang materials recovery facility (MRF) upang tanggapin ang mga ni-recycle na materyales mula sa iba't ibang barangay.

Sinabi pa ni Administrator Esquejo na nagpalabas na rin sila ng mga kautusan hinggil sa solid waste management para ipatupad ng mga lider-barangay sa kanilang mga nasasakupan.

Pagkatapos ng mga kautusan, magbabarangay-barangay din ang pamahalaang bayan para matiyak na hindi makakalimutan ng mga mamamayan ang paghihiwalay-hiwalay ng kanilang mga basura.

Una rito, sa panayam ng PIA, ibinahagi ng pamahalaang bayan ng General Tinio ang kanilang naging kampanya sa solid waste management.

Ayon kay Jun Bal, executive assistant ni Mayor Virgilio Bote, bawat barangay sa kanilang bayan ay hinikayat magtayo ng sariling MRF para ang maipapadala sa kanilang landfill ay mga nabubulok na lang.

Sinabi ni Bal na nakipag-alyansa sila sa mga simbahan at mga paaralan upang mapalawak ang kaalaman sa solid waste management lalo na sa mga kabataan. (WLB/LDRP PIA-3)