By CESAR JOLITO III
Environmental and community organizations have defended their decision to boycott the joint committee hearing of the Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) last Tuesday, July 14, saying the proceedings were not structured to ensure meaningful public participation or address their long-standing concerns over waste management.
In a joint statement, the Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment, Zero Waste Alliance Negros Occidental and allied organizations said they deliberately skipped the hearing because they believed their concerns would not be given fair consideration.
“From the start, we did not feel our concerns and participation would be given the respect that meaningful public engagement deserves,” the groups said.
The organizations said previous public remarks describing their advocacy as “uneducated” or “rooted in ignorance” created an atmosphere that discouraged genuine dialogue.
According to the groups, such statements made constructive discussions difficult and reinforced their belief that the hearing was intended to “educate” them rather than listen to concerns they said have already been repeatedly raised and supported by documentation.
They also disclosed that they had formally requested the Office of the Vice Mayor to have the hearing jointly conducted by the SP committees on environment and ecology, health and sanitation, with support from the council’s legal team.
The request, they said, was not accommodated before the scheduled hearing.
The environmental advocates stressed that public hearings should serve as venues for consultation, dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, rather than discussions on decisions they believe have already been settled.
Despite their absence, the groups maintained they had fulfilled their role as stakeholders by submitting formal position papers outlining their concerns, supporting evidence and recommendations on the city’s waste management issues.
Moving forward, the organizations urged the SP to convene a separate and more inclusive public forum led by the committees on environment and health.
They said the proposed consultation should tackle not only the now-withdrawn proposal to dispose of Victorias City’s residual waste at the Bacolod sanitary landfill, but also the long-term environmental and public health concerns affecting Barangay Felisa and the broader solid waste management challenges the city faces./CCJ, WDJ