‘Halt dumping in Payatas’

Payatas residents and victims of the Payatas trash-slide have joined forces to block the continuous dumping of garbage at the Payatas dumpsite which was re-opened by Quezon City Mayor Ismael Mathay, Jr. to ease the perennial garbage problem in the metropolis.

The July 10 Payatas Victims Organizations (J10PVO-KADAMAY) led by secretary general Delia Badion, said that dumping of garbage in Phase III of Lupang Pangako in Payatas started a week before the decision of the Quezon City Council.

"Some are really smarter than others. But in the case of the reopening of the Payatas dumpsite, some are just plain dumb and stupid. They never learned their lesson from the recent garbage-slide tragedy," Badion said

Badion, a former resident of Purok 5 in Phase II of Lupang Pangako but relocated by the government to Kasiglahan Village in Rodriguez, Rizal, lost six of her relatives in the July 10 Payatas tragedy.

She asked President Estrada to order Mathay to permanently stop the operation of Payatas dumpsite. "While we have been relocated to Erap City in Rizal, we are very much disturbed by the recent reopening of Payatas," she said. – Jose Rodel Clapano