ISLA BONITA, ROSARIO, CAVITE - DUMPSITE NO MORE

15 minutes away from SM Rosario, I was surprised that behind rows of houses that occupy hi-way was a beach resort – Isla Bonita, but what surprises me more is to learn that Isla Bonita had been once a dumpsite. Doing walk survey, I could not imagine history behind Isla Bonita – no traces of trash, visitors enjoying water for swim, fishermen along shores with catch, zip line, restaurants, henna tattoo stand and birds on this haven.

During my study of healthcare waste management, I had learned that the province of Cavite faces great challenges in Solid Waste Management program. Cavite, one of the provinces comprising the Southern Tagalog Region (Region 4A – CALABAR Zone) with total land area of 1,427.06 sq. km is comprised of 19 municipalities and 829 barangays with total population (2008 census) of 2,987,891 inhabitants are managed by their own respective Local Government Units (LGUs). 

As of 2007, there are only two cities, Dasmariñas and Tagaytay that have a centralized material recovery facility. Considering that establishing the said facility is cost intensive, it can be noticed that only two cities were able operate their centralized MRF. Despite the financial challenge, the environmental offices are exerting efforts to implement the program even at the barangay level. Thus in 2007, it can be noticed that fourteen municipalities were able to implement the MRF system in their respective barangays. Having smaller coverage, barangay MRFs are more manageable than a centralized one (PENRO).

Residual wastes or those that can no longer be recycled are being disposed by means of dumpsites or through sanitary landfill. As of 2007, there are five open dumpsites that can be found in Rosario, Gen. M. Alvarez, Gen. Aguinaldo, Indang and Maragondon. These open dumpsites are considered unsanitary considering the uncontrolled hazards that it poses in terms of health and sanitation (PENRO).

During my visit at Isla Bonita, I had the chance to interview Mayor Jose 'Nonong" Ricafrente on role of LGUs in transformation of a former dumpsite to what Isla Bonita today. Local Government is designated by the National to take responsibility for looking after many services in the local community and one of which is Environmental Protection. One of important function LGU can provide is to mitigate harmful effects of pollutants is by promoting establishment of people’s and nongovernmental organization to become active partners in pursuit of local autonomy which Mayor Ricafrente had pushed through.

Environmental protection and preservation is one of the major development agenda of the provincial government. In partnership with national agencies, the province is eagerly implementing programs and projects that aim to preserve and enrich our natural resources. One of the major programs and a continuous endeavour is the implementation of the Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. Relative to this, each municipality/city should have their own material recovery facility in order to manage their solid wastes.

For Mayor Ricafrente, involvement of people was the key in success of Isla Bonita, followed by application of appropriate technology such as artificial coral reef that rebuilds fish biodiversity which greatly helped the area to recover and act as the focal of area of bioremediation, and lastly, allotting budget necessary to rehabilitate the area. As return of investment, its more than monetary – they created safe environment for local residents, a habitat not only for marine life but also sightings of migratory birds that had made Isla Bonita as its sanctuary, the area created income for locals through ecotourism, provided a good training ground for environmental students of solid waste management, technology and Sustainable Development and Rosario, Cavite made a good name and image making an impossible to possible. 

The visit at Isla Bonita had reminded me on importance of social dimension and components of Sustainable Development (economy, society, and environment) are interrelated – although independent aspects, are still interrelated with each other :Economy exists entirely within society, because all parts of the human economy require interaction among people. It is primarily based on exchanging goods and services. Society, in turn, exists entirely within the environment. Our basic requirements: air, food and water, come from the environment, as do the energy and raw materials for housing, transportation and the products we depend on. Environment surrounds society. Today human activity is reshaping the environment at an ever-increasing rate. The parts of the environment unaffected by human activity are getting smaller all the time. However, because people need food, water and air to survive, society can never be larger than the environment. As a whole, attaining sustainable development involves the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity.