Semirara garbage project trashed

President Estrada has suspended a plan to dump Metro Manila’s garbage on Semirara island in Antique until a legal battle is settled, Executive Secretary Edgardo Angara announced yesterday.

Semirara residents secured a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Antique Regional Trial Court halting the use of the island because of a possible environmental disaster.

"Using Semirara as a dump is suspended until the court settles the issue and until the Senate investigation is concluded," Angara said, adding other sites in Luzon have been tagged as alternative dump sites.

The Presidential Task Force on Metro Manila Solid Waste Management has allowed a joint venture between R-II Builders Inc. and D.M. Consunji Inc. to develop a former coal mine on the island into a sanitary landfill for Metro Manila’s trash.

Under the Semirara proposal, the trash is to be loaded on barges for a three-day journey to the island, passing near some of the country’s best-known beach resorts and fishing grounds.

Environmentalists warn that waste fluids leaking from the barges could pollute the water along its route, aside from the possibility of scattering garbage if the barges capsize during the typhoon season.

But residents of Semirara, a recognized marine turtle sanctuary, last week obtained a court order suspending the plan for 20 days.

Residents from Semirara and Antique have intensified their protest and have re-established the picket lines that were allegedly demolished by the D.M. Consunji consortium.

Opposition vs dumping plan mounts

Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) has supported the call of Semirara residents for government to abandon its plans to make the island a dumpsite.

The NCCP slammed the government for resorting to a quick-fix solution to a long-term problem at the expense of the poor people of Semirara Island and Antique province.

"Antique is a depressed and isolated province. Its people and properties are always victims of floods and typhoons since it is surrounded from tip to tip by rivers. The dumping of Metro Manila’s garbage there will definitely be a bane to Antique," said NCCP president Rev. Tomas Millamena.

The NCCP is a federation of 11 mainline Protestant churches and 10 service-oriented associate members.

Sen. Loren Legarda-Leviste has also joined the opposition to the Semirara plan and introduced a resolution calling on the government to abandon the plan which she described as an assault on the environment.

Legarda noted that Semirara is part of Antique’s Caluya town which has been declared a marine turtle sanctuary in 1982 and is only 31 nautical miles from tourist mecca Boracay island.

"The citizens groups are agitated over reports that the barges are leaching and polluting the waters of Semirara. The discharge of these highly pollutive substances is now endangering both marine and coastal life, including human life," Legarda said.

An alliance of multi-sectoral groups has also urged the President to sack the government executives who failed to resolve Metro Manila’s garbage crisis.

The "Huwag Semirara Coalition," led by its spokesman Charlie Uy, urged Mr. Estrada to sack Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Jejomar Binay and Presidential Adviser on Flagship Projects Secretary Robert Aventajado.

Binay and Aventajado are both members of the Greater Metro Manila Solid Waste Management Committee and leading proponents of the Semirara plan.

"The minds of Binay and Aventajado are closed and we cannot expect them to contribute to efforts to look for a more viable dumpsite for Metro Manila’s garbage with such a mindset," Uy said.

Uy added that the province of Nueva Ecija has volunteered an area in the province that can accommodate the 6,000 to 8,000 metric tons of garbage produced daily by residents and industrial companies in Metro Manila.

Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) director Peter Anthony Abaya has also urged Metro Manila mayors to donate some of their private lands for conversion into a landfill.

Abaya likewise ruled out moves to amend the Clean Air Act, which bans incinerators despite their lower cost.

"Incinerators are cheaper because most of them sold in our country are either second-hand or they belong to countries which banned the use of incinerators, but the trouble is that they produce a high level of dioxin which pollutes the environment," Abaya said. — With reports from Leo Solinap, Jose Rodel Clapano, Efren Danao, Romel Bagares