Futile search for a landfill

With less than a year left before the end of the present administration, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando has given up hope in finding a sanitary landfill site during his term.

"It’s a long shot. All the odds are stacked against us," Fernando said yesterday, after declaring that he has given up on trying to convince Quezon province to provide a landfill for Metro Manila’s garbage.

Fernando said he decided to quit on Quezon following a recent meeting with members of the religious sector, particularly the bishops of its towns and municipalities.

"They claimed the environment will be destroyed. They claimed they still have a pristine environment. They don’t understand the concept of industrialization that I proposed," Fernando lamented.

The MMDA’s declaration ended several months of attempting to court Quezon province officials. These included visits by provincial officials to Metro Manila and money spent on presentations of the project to residents, non-government organizations and local government officials.

Fernando said he will now explore other areas to host the landfill including the provinces in the northern part of Luzon and Bicol in the south.

He pointed out, however, that Bicol is the more plausible option since the north rail is now scheduled for rehabilitation.

The north rail of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) is expected to be completed after three years.

The MMDA reportedly received several offers from the local government units of Bicol to host the proposed landfill, but it is only now that these are being considered.

During the past seven months, the MMDA only considered areas accessible by train within a 150-kilometer radius of Metro Manila.

The target limited the options of the MMDA to Quezon province because Bicol is beyond the 150-kilometer radius.

However, Fernando stressed that before he started any formal negotiations with Bicol or any other province, he will first wait for the passage of legislation that will address the perennial "Not In My Backyard" syndrome.

Fernando said that he has talked to Misamis Oriental Rep. Augusto Baculio about the proposed bill and he has agreed to present this in the next session of the House.

Baculio is chairman of the committee on ecology and co-chairman of the joint congressional oversight committees on the Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Air Act.

Fernando said the proposed bill will designate the National Solid Waste Management Board as the body that will identify the site for a landfill.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, on the other hand, will confirm the technical grounds of the project, including its viability.

However, Fernando argued that the social acceptability aspect of the project should be limited to local government units only and not the entire province.

Fernando said all of these are necessary to invite the investors into the project.

"We have to make certain that the landfill will remain operational for a long time. We need this to invite the investors to put their money in the project," Fernando said.

He added that Metro Manila still has several short-term solutions to garbage but these are mostly good for just another year.