Court grants longer temporary relief

More than a thousand foreign and local business locators at the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone and around 100 local governments in central and northern Luzon, including Baguio City, and their residents and business establishments, heaved a huge sigh of relief after a Tarlac trial court stopped the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) from closing the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill, which takes care of the waste disposal needs of these areas.

The German-led Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) is the builder and operator of the 100-hectare Kalangitan Landfill located inside the New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac. The facility is said to be the country’s first and most advanced engineered sanitary landfill. More than 4,000 tons of wastes are brought to this landfill easily from 121 municipalities in eight provinces, namely Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan and Benguet.

Last Oct. 8, the Regional Trial Court Branch 66 of Capas, Tarlac extended the validity of the temporary restraining order until Oct. 24, 2024, enjoining BCDA and CDC officers, led by CDC president and CEO Agnes Devanadera and BCDA president Joshua Bingcang, as well as persons acting under their orders or authority and heads of CDC’s and BCDA’s security forces and their security personnel, from forcibly ejecting MCWMC or any of its officers, employees, or representatives, and from taking over by force or performing any acts leading to a forcible takeover of the 100-hectare property which is the site of the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill until the expiration of the TRO.

The same court issued last October 4 a 72-hour TRO saying that the complaint of MCWMC showed a “clear and unmistakable right exists in favor of the plaintiff, who has been disturbed in their peaceful possession of the subject leased premises. The plaintiff holds a valid lease agreement over the 100-hectare property, which is set to expire in the year 2049, with an option for renewal until the year 2065.”

In granting the second TRO, the Capas, Tarlac court explained that while a 72-hour TRO was earlier issued, “after a thorough examination of the records, evidences and testimonies…, it was indubitably established with probable certainty that failure to extend the application for a TRO before full hearing could be conducted would likely result in grave and irreparable injustice to the plaintiff.”

Judge Rolando Haban said that the initial 72-hour TRO issued on Oct. 4 is extended to a total period of 20 days to be counted from the date of issuance of the original 72-hour restraining order or valid until Oct. 24, 2024.

MCWMC filed a special civil action for an injunction to permanently prevent CDC and BCDA from taking over the property.

CDC said it has received the Capas court’s new TRO and that it would comply with this latest court order. But it maintained that the contract had expired on Oct. 6, adding that it will seek guidance from the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel on the appropriate action to take in light of this new development.

BCDA has said 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, adding that extending the contract between CDC and MCWMC beyond October 2024 would be against the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) law under which the contract was awarded. The BOT law, it emphasized, provides fixed terms for contracts to operate utilities and facilities.

It added that they are keen on developing and increasing the economic value of the land inside New Clark City now being used as a landfill by converting it into a tourism-oriented development project.

But MCWMC maintains that their lease contract with CDC covering the 100-hectare site is valid until 2049 since pursuant to the Investors Lease Act, they are granted a lease period not exceeding 50 years, renewable once for another 25 years.

The company said that it is the service contract pertaining to MCWMC’s exclusive right to provide waste management services to locators inside the Clark Special Economic Zone that expires this month but not the lease contract.

The company has also filed a civil case before the Angeles City Regional Trial Court last June for the reformation of the instrument so that the contract can accurately reflect the intention of the parties and for the court to determine the correct period of the lease and to include the “automatic renewal” of the contract for another 25 years.

MCWMC is also asking for P101 million in damages and legal expenses. In response, CDC filed a counterclaim of P45 million against the private landfill operator.

MCWMC said in the civil case that the contract that its parent company entered into with CDC in 1999 had a lease component where the royalty it pays to the state-owned firm serves as a rental fee.

But in its counter affidavit, CDC claims that the contract had no provision on the lease of any CDC property nor a provision for the automatic renewal of its fixed 25-year term.

MCWMC has emphasized that for over 20 years, it has prioritized serving its customers and communities, providing safe, reliable and effective waste management facilities and that through the application for TRO, it has and will continue to exhaust all legal remedies to protect its right to continue providing vital services.

It said that the abrupt and unlawful attempts by BCDA and CDC to close the landfill not only pose environmental risks but also threaten the stability and welfare of the client communities, potentially depriving them of the region’s only fully compliant disposal facility.

Earlier, environmental officers from 121 LGUs have raised their concern over the possible closure of the Kalangitan landfill in a petition sent to Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga where they noted that it is the only landfill in the region that meets the environmental standards set by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

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