Solution to trash problem in sight?

The country’s top two garbage managers have given their assurances that there will be no crisis at the start of 2001.

Flagship Programs and Projects Secretary Roberto Aventajado told reporters yesterday that the government is "working on the problem" and has started formulating a plan of action to work out the interim landfill project.

"The government has got to make a decision. Government is not exactly a hostage of the situation," Aventajado said.

He reiterated that they will be using all legal means available to them to get their way in their Semirara, Antique project.

At the same time, Aventajado denied that he has initiated talks with the residents of Rizal province on the possibility of extending the use of the San Mateo sanitary landfill.

The Metro Mayors Council held an emergency meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the current garbage situation hounding Metro Manila.

The meeting was called in the light of problems regarding the choice of Semirara as the site of the interim landfill facility.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Jejomar Binay, for his part, said that the MMC is also looking at other options on top of the Semirara landfill. He hinted at the possibility of using "controlled dumpsites" as an option that could be used immediately if the Semirara project fails.

"There is a unanimity in the hope that there will be no garbage crisis," Binay said while admitting the possibility of a crisis if all of the government’s options fail.

He also explained that there would be no garbage collection on Dec. 31, 2000 and Jan. 1, 2001 as collection would only take place on Jan. 2, 2001.

Aventajado pointed out that a strict segregation and recycling system would be enforced at the household level to reduce the amount of garbage generated daily in the metropolis.

He noted that the reduction in the volume of solid waste would serve as an encouragement for local governments involved to accept the garbage of Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, even if it meant a garbage crisis, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) rejected yesterday the proposal to use the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City as an alternative to the San Mateo sanitary landfill.

Peter Anthony Abaya, director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), said that the Payatas dumpsite which had killed more than 200 persons during a trash-slide last July remained "structurally unstable."

"We cannot solve a problem through another problem. We have seen what happened already and we want that closed," Abaya said.

Abaya said that the Payatas dumpsite is not the solution to the garbage crisis in Metro Manila since its re-opening would only endanger the lives of the residents in the area.

"We acknowledge that unless a new facility is awarded and is allowed to begin by Jan. 1, we are going to have a garbage crisis in Metro Manila. But Payatas is not the solution," Abaya said.

The provincial government of Rizal led by Gov. Casimiro Yñares and residents in the vicinity have strongly opposed the extension of dumping operations at the San Mateo sanitary landfill. – Jose Rodel Clapano