On Wednesday, 9th January 2019, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the PNOC Renewables Corporation and the City Local Government Unit of Baguio at Baguio City Hall. This signifies the interest of both agencies to support waste-to-energy development and sustainable solid waste management of the city.
Waste-To-Energy (WTE) is considered a renewable energy under biomass category. It is renewable in character because at present, the generation of an amount of city solid waste (CSW) is increasing that is surpassing the existing capacity of sanitary landfills, this despite the policies, planning and enactment of Republic Act 9003, known as the “Ecological Solid waste Management Act of 2000.” Baguio City faces a solid waste crisis and is running out of disposal facility due to its rugged and mountainous location, increasing population and tourist, and safe access of the potential areas. Current residual waste of the city must be transported to lowland provinces with existing treatment facility which put additional burden on hauling cost. The accumulation of CSW along streets and inappropriate location defaces the good image of Baguio City- dubbed as the summer capital of the Philippines.
The signing ceremony was attended by PNOC RC President & CEO John J. Arenas and Baguio City Mayor Mauricio Domogan. They were also joined by PNOC RC Executive Vice President Pedro L. Lite Jr and Baguio City Chief General Services Officer Mr. Eugene Buyucan who stood as witnesses.
“PNOC RC as a corporate arm of DOE recognizes the potential of waste-to-energy (WTE) as one of the solutions for solid waste problem but emphasizing some limitations for its development. There are existing WTE technologies abroad but needs commercial installation in the Philippines because civil society organizations pose strong opposition on its development. Through this project, the government will make sure that it will consider the welfare of the society and the environment. This could also generate renewable energy from local source, therefore, security and sustainability of energy supply can be assured,” PNOC RC President John J. Arenas said.
“We welcome this opportunity to partner with a government entity to address one of our basic concerns not only in the City of Baguio but including Baguio, La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay (BLISTT). Hopefully, this project can be realized soon, so that the other Local Government Units can use this as a model and replicate the same in their respective areas” Mayor Mauricio Domogan said.
