Antique court issues TRO vs landfill project

Antique Gov. Francis Gideon Javier won the first round of his fight against the government’s plan to put up an interim sanitary landfill for Metro Manila’s wastes on Semirara Island, with the local regional trial court issuing a 72-hour temporary restraining order (TRO) against the project.

Antique RTC Judge Nery Duremdes also gave the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 15 days within which to reply to Javier’s petition seeking a permanent injunction to the landfill project.

The TRO was addressed to Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio Cerilles, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Jejomar Binay, Presidential Flagships Projects Secretary Robert Aventajado, who also chairs the Greater Metro Manila Solid Waste Management Committee; the DMCI/Celdex/R-II Builders and its contractor, David Consunji.

In his petition, Javier insisted that dumping Metro Manila’s garbage on Semirara Island in Caluya, Antique poses a great risk to the environment, noting that Boracay Island, a world-class island resort, is situated only 15 kilometers away from the planned landfill site.

"We will not be able to see its disastrous effects in just a few years, but in the next years to come. And we (won’t really) know its real effect and how long we will suffer if we make the mistake of accepting the proposal," Javier said.

Like other provinces, Javier said Antique is also entitled to a "balanced and healthful ecology. "There is a reasonably perceived impairment of the environment of Antique if the development of the interim sanitary landfill is implemented," he said.

Earlier, Peter Anthony Abaya, chief of the Environmental Management Bureau, said the landfill’s contractor will be strictly required to undergo the regular process of securing an environmental compliance certificate (ECC). — With Marvin Sy