Following an uproar from stakeholders and local government units for the proposed shutdown of Kalangitan sanitary landfill facilities in Capas, Tarlac, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) on Monday assured a coming solution.

The Kalangitan sanitary landfill, which is under a 25-year contract with state-run Clark Development Corp., will stop operation this 5 October 2024, which is feared to cause problems including the piling of hospital waste.

The BCDA and its subsidiary, CDC decided not to extend the contract with the operator of Kalangitan landfill, the Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation (MCWMC).

“The BCDA will assist local government units, government agencies and locators to explore alternative solutions for the affected stakeholders’ waste disposal requirements to ensure non-disruption of solid waste management services,” according to the statement of the BCDA on Monday.

In a press conference last week, Danny Abadilla, president of the Clark Sanitation Services, revealed that closing Kalangitan sanitary landfill could mean problems to Northern and Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna and Palawan hospitals, as most wastes coming to these hospital regions are treated at their recovery facility before delivered to the said landfill.

Breach of BoT law

“Pursuant to the legal opinion of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), BCDA’s statutory counsel, extending the contract between Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and MCWMC beyond October 2024 would be against the Build-Operate-Transfer (BoT) Law, the framework used in bidding and awarding the contract for the project,” it said.

The BCDA also maintained that a sanitary landfill “is no longer consistent with the government’s vision of transforming New Clark City into a premier investment and tourism destination.”

Moreover, the BCDA said that based on a report from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau Region III, two existing facilities in Pampanga may be utilized upon the end of MCWMC’s contract.

The said facilities have a combined total capacity of 3,500 metric tons of domestic waste per day, and a potential to expand further to 6,000 MT, which should allay fears of a looming garbage and health crisis in the region.