Leyte town landfill-cum-ecological park lures tourists

TABANGO, Leyte , Nov. 13 -- This town is slowly reaping success from its effort to make an ecological park (eco-park) as model for solid waste management.

Mayor Benjo Remandaban, in an interview on Tuesday, said they managed to maximize the use of a three-hectare area from a dumping site into a tourism destination. The local government acquired the property in 2016 for over PHP1 million.

“Who would come here if this is just a dumping site? Manlawaan village, where the eco-park is located, is the most populated community in Tabango. At first, the villagers were against the idea of having this landfill here. After I presented them the whole idea, they approved it and they were happy even for the initial turnout,” he said.

Since the entire area is generally mountainous and steep, various ornamental plants were landscaped at the entrance that nature lovers would love and to further prevent soil erosion.

A restaurant to be operated by an accredited civil society organization and a 16-room hotel funded by the local government are expected to rise at the eco-park.

Part of the vision for this eco-park is the construction of a zipline and sky bike, in addition to the currently operational wall climbing, an activity that aids the body’s strength and endurance, the mayor said.

Remandaban dreams of bringing more tourists to the small town by establishing quarterly sports events each year.

This year, among the events held in the site were national competition for triathlon, regional trail run, a two-day invitational international downhill, endurance race, and mountain bike race. To be held later this month is a dragon boat race at the town’s coastal village.

With the town’s meager resources, the mayor was pleased to receive financial assistance for two consecutive years for earning the Seal of Good Local Governance. Funds were poured in the development of the solid waste management site.

The local government also acquired shredding machines for the biodegradable wastes. It has been producing compost soil for use in the ornamental plants taken care of by the senior citizens of the local community.

Also, a material recovery facility building has been operational where final segregations and sorting are done from all 13 villages.

“All villages were encouraged to operate material recovery facility to minimize the dumping of the wastes at the site and to create livelihood to the locales,” Remandaban said.

“My travel to other countries gave us the idea of having this in our town and to maximize the natural rich resources that we have. At the same, it is our way of raising advocacy in preserving the environment and reduce its abuses,” he added.

Remandaban said the dumpsite at the eco-park in Manlawaan village is designed to accommodate the town’s growing population of 35,000 in the future.

Its internal revenue allotment of a little more than PHP100 million is not enough to allocate funds for this project because portion of it is used to pay loans like the water system project. (ERR/PNA)