Payatas survivors to fight dump reopening

Survivors of the July 10 Payatas tragedy are set to challenge in court next week an order issued by President Estrada allowing the temporary reopening of the 15-hectare garbage dump.

"We don’t want another tragedy to happen here," said Delia Badion, president of the July 10 Payatas Victims Organization (J10PVO-Kadamay). "The President should have learned a lesson from the tragedy."

At least 234 people died and scores were injured when a side of the 100-foot mountain of garbage fell on a sleeping shanty town. Around 80 people remain missing.

Quezon City Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. reopened a portion of the dump last Nov. 10 for a garbage transfer station. He said the President, who had ordered its shutdown in the wake of the tragedy, has approved the move. "This is only temporary," he said, "this will not last until Dec. 31."

According to him, garbage is merely sorted out at the transfer station for recyclables before dumping at the San Mateo landfill. He said the transfer station is located on the "safe side" of the dump – the eastern portion, near the boundary of Phase III and Phase II of Lupang Pangako.

He said the city’s garbage woes would soon end as the national government has already identified two alternative sites for garbage dumps – one at an old mine in Bataan and another at a similar phased down facility in Semirara, Antique.

He said City Hall plans to shutdown the transfer station by the end of the year, noting that the San Mateo landfill will be finally closed down by Dec. 31. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources itself has said the city government cannot keep the transfer station open beyond that date.

"We’re observing safety considerations here," he said, adding that he has ordered the City Engineer’s Office to put up a perimeter wall around the station to keep garbage away from the nearby community.

But residents claim garbage trucks have done more than sort out recyclable materials at the station. Badion said since the station was set up, a two-meter high mound of garbage has risen.

"At night, they flatten the garbage and push it towards the edge of the community," said Badion, whose group has filed a P1-billion damage suit against the city government and three other entities.

"No garbage is being taken out of Payatas and transferred to other areas outside of Payatas," Roger Dolores said, adding that people living near the station had received notices that their houses would be demolished.

Badion said Mathay is lying about the transfer station. She said that the governor and the congressman of Antique have rejected the use of Semirara island as a garbage dump. Bataan residents also opposed the dumping of garbage in their province, she added.