The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) MIMAROPA Region is set to build materials recovery facilities in 12 municipalities in Palawan within the year.
These municipalities are Araceli, Balabac, Bataraza, Brooke’s Point, Coron, Cuyo, Dumaran, Magsaysay, Narra, Quezon, Roxas, and Taytay, according to a statement sent Thursday to Palawan News by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in MIMAROPA.
Palawan is among four provinces in the region where the EMB vowed to finish all scheduled construction activities of MRFs before the year ends.
EMB MIMAROPA regional director Atty. Michael Drake Matias ordered to finish the construction of MRFs in 25 municipalities, including those in Palawan for the calendar year 2020.
The other local government units (LGUs) where the MRFs will be built are Victoria and Bulalacao in Oriental Mindoro; Abra de Ilog, Calintaan, Mamburao, Paluan, Rizal, Sablayan; San Jose in Occidental Mindoro, and Corcuera, Sta. Fe, and San Jose in Romblon.
Meanwhile, the statement said the 14 newly-constructed MRFs in the region are set for turn over to their recipient municipalities. These LGUs include Bansud, Gloria, Pinamalayan, Puerto Galera, Roxas, and San Teodoro in Oriental Mindoro; Buenavista, Gasan, Mogpog, and Sta. Cruz in Marinduque; and Odiongan (with 2 MRFs constructed), San Agustin, and Sta. Maria in Romblon.
EMB MIMAROPA initiated the efforts to construct the said MRFs through contractors which, upon finishing the construction, will be turned over to the respective LGU for their use.
This was done to assist LGUs in expediting the construction of such, as former recipient LGUs of funding assistance for MRF construction faced difficulties in looking for successful bidders for their projects, thus delaying the establishment of MRF in their area.
In the past two years, EMB MIMAROPA reported a total number of 19 closed dumpsites in the region, along with 4 operational sanitary landfills built, and two more set for construction.
“We highlight the importance of our successful collaboration with the LGUs in the construction of MRFs as a solution to address the improper waste management in the Region and divert other wastes into something that we may still be able to utilize,” said Matias.
It can be noted that DENR Sec. Roy A. Cimatu mentioned in his report during the Pre-State of the Nation Address (SONA) Forum held last July 22 the importance of MRF construction in the effective implementation of ecological solid waste management.
 MIMAROPA Region is set to build materials recovery facilities in 12 municipalities in Palawan within the year.){kind=link}