Atienza leaves landfill's fate to the court

MANILA, Philippines - Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza have now backed out from his earlier promise to revoke the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to a new sanitary landfill project in San Mateo, Rizal if there was “misrepresentation” on its exact location.

This, as he canceled the conduct of the supposed 10-day investigation into the issue, which the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) earlier vowed to undertake, after San Mateo folk and environmentalists opposed to the project submitted documents to prove that San Mateo Sanitary Landfill Development Corp. (SMSLDC) allegedly committed violations when it applied for the ECC.

Since the issue has been raised in court, he said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has no choice but to just pursue the “presumption of correctness” on the landfill project.

“Before I did not know there was a case already filed in court about this project, which in fact named some DENR officials, including myself, as respondents. So with that I think we just have to let the court decide. As for the DENR, the presumption of correctness (of the project) would have to be pursued,” he told reporters.

However, Atienza said, “I am duty bound to also suffer the consequences in relation to this matter because I signed the ECC.”

Last March 26, Clemente Bautista of the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE); Tony Balute of the Coalition for Garbage-Free San Mateo; safety and environment engineer Darrow Lucenario; Dr. Stephen Domingo; and Antonio Montemayor of the Waldorf School submitted a folder of “proof of actual location” of the landfill project to EMB director Julian Amador.

The folder contained documents, including a zoning map, showing that the new landfill was built in Barangays Maly and Guinayang, not in Barangay Pintong Bukawe, as stated in its ECC.

Certifications

Among the documents were certifications from the Land Registration Authority, office of the deputy provincial and municipal assessor, DENR Region 4-A (Calabarzon), and Department of Agrarian Reform Region 4-A that the new landfill is in Barangays Maly and Guinayang.

Amador admitted that these documents were not presented before the ECC was issued on Nov. 24 last year.

Meanwhile, the case filed by Filinvest Land Inc. seeking a temporary restraining order against the project is being heard by Judge Manuel Taro of the San Mateo Regional Trial Court Branch 75. EMB officials are among the respondents.

Filinvest owns at least 680 hectares of land in the periphery of the landfill project, including two developed subdivisions.

Residents, environmentalists, and businessmen opposed to the landfill are optimistic that government authorities would resolve the issue in their favor.

They insisted that what they submitted to EMB officials were factual evidence and legal documents that would prove and validate that the landfill is not located in Barangay Pintong Bukawe.

Montemayor expressed hope that the EMB’s re-evaluation of the project would not take too long, as he maintained that it appears to have had “congenital defects” since the beginning.

Lucenario, for his part, said the landfill proponents also appeared to have committed “deception,” as they allegedly submitted a “wrong design” for the facility.

Balute, on the other hand, insisted that there was no public consultation on the landfill project.

Last Tuesday, residents of San Mateo and members of Kalikasan-PNE and the Coalition for Garbage-Free San Mateo staged a protest in front of the DENR office in Quezon City and scored the agency what they described as its “dilly-dallying” on the controversial project.

The protesters dumped garbage bags in front of the DENR gate to symbolize their “disgust” over the agency’s “indecisiveness” to heed the clamor for the termination of the new landfill, which they said is located within a forest and watershed area.