Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay ordered yesterday the city’s garbage trucks to park near the office of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in Makati after the dump trucks were not allowed to dump their cargo at the Rodriguez landfill in Rizal.
The MMDA was forced to send dozens of the garbage trucks to other dumps after the truck drivers abandoned them near the agency’s main office near EDSA in Guadalupe, Makati.
MMDA officials are now trying to find a solution to the problem considering that it is still waiting for the Makati City Regional Trial Court’s decision on which agency will the MMDA pay to be allowed to use the Rodriguez dump.
Binay, who decided to send the dump trucks to the MMDA office as a sign of protest against the agency, said the agency should do its job to provide a dump for the garbage collected by local government units (LGUs).
“We cannot understand why the MMDA cannot resolve the issue regarding Montalban (Rodriguez) when they have the funds for it. Makati has been remitting its contributions to the MMDA as required by law and the least the agency can do is to do its work,” he said in a statement.
Binay said the MMDA received P224 million from last year which is equivalent to five percent of the city’s annual budget.
He explained that under the MMDA Law, the agency is in charge of finding a dump for all the garbage of all cities and municipalities in Metro Manila while the LGUs are in charge of collecting trash and bringing them to the designated dumpsite.
MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno met with Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares yesterday afternoon to discuss the matter and how the situation can be addressed.
MMDA Traffic Operations Group (TEG) chief Bobby Esquivel said the garbage trucks were impounded and some drivers might be held accountable for violating traffic rules and regulations since the garbage trucks are actually owned by private firms.
The MMDA had long been saying that it has the money to pay but does not know whether to pay the local government of Rodriguez or the provincial government of Rizal, which is why they brought the case before the courts.
The Makati government is also studying the possibility of filing charges against personnel from the Sidewalk Clearing Operation Group of the MMDA for allegedly mauling several garbage truck helpers.
“The actions of these MMDA men, if true, merely reinforce the belief that the agency has become a refuge for hooligans,” Binay said.
Danilo Villas, head of the city’s Department of Environmental Services (DES) identified two of the truck helpers that were mauled as Juancho Segovia and Joseph Alejandro, employees of the RTM Royal Waste Management.