New coalition joins protest vs San Mateo sanitary landfill

MANILA, Philippines – A newly formed coalition and the Catholic Church yesterday joined various groups in calling for a total halt to the sanitary landfill project in San Mateo, Rizal.

“We strongly oppose the dumpsite operation in our mountains, as it gravely destroys our natural resources and the environment and without a doubt endangers the lives of our families, most especially our children,” the Alyansa Laban sa Tambakan ng Basura ng San Mateo said in a statement.

The group, composed of homeowners’ associations and youth and Church organizations, appealed to Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III “to mediate and represent the voice of San Mateo.”

This developed as ecological groups Buklod Tao and EcoWaste Coalition yesterday asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to immediately halt all land conversion and waste disposal activities within the Marikina watershed and mountains of Rizal, saying such actions are putting many lives in danger.

The two groups issued the call in time for the observance of Disaster Awareness Month this July.

Antonio Balute, president of the Alyansa and representative of the Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo, said they would conduct a massive information campaign to educate the public on the danger posed by the landfill to the residents and the environment.

Balute insisted that no public consultations were ever made to warrant the setting up of the sanitary landfill in San Mateo.

“The people don’t know the issue. On the part of the Church, our first objective is to inform the people about the issue,” said Fr. Bien Miguel, spiritual director on ecology of the Diocese of Antipolo.

Environmental and sanitary engineer Darrow Lucenario said the 200-hectare landfill does not have a leachate treatment plant that is approved, acceptable and in compliance with the standards set by the DENR and the United Nations Environment Program.

“They do not operate the leachate treatment facility in the landfill to save money and have more profit and (it is) apparently being used for display only,” he said.

Lucenario said leachate is made up of rainwater and the toxic liquid produced when waste breaks down.

No materials recycling facility

Lucenario added that the landfill does not have a materials recycling facility (MRF).

“The MRF is like a giant factory where the recyclable materials are collected from homes and businesses and taken to be sorted into different types of streams such as paper, plastics and aluminum,” he said.

The landfill, which has a capacity to accommodate more than 2,000 metric tons of garbage daily, reportedly started operating early this year until the Filinvest Land Inc. sought a temporary restraining order against the project before the San Mateo regional trial court.

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

Meanwhile, Buklod Tao and EcoWaste Coalition warned that families, especially those living near riverbanks and mountain slopes, are faced with extreme hazards because of the massive land conversion and waste disposal operations, which they consider “high-risk” projects.

“As the country is in the brink of more climatic disasters due to global warming, we are appealing to the DENR to act quickly and stop the further destruction of the environment,” said Noli Abinales of Buklod Tao.

Buklod Tao, a community-based organization based in San Mateo, urged Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza to strengthen environmental management by integrating disaster prevention to enhance the protection of citizens living in high-risk disaster areas like San Mateo.

Citing a study conducted by the National Institute for Geological Studies of the University of the Philippines in 2000, the group revealed that the surrounding mountains of San Mateo are classified as Zone 1 or high risk for landslides and “mass wasting.”

The group added that the environmental constraint map of San Mateo’s comprehensive land use plan classifies 13 of the town’s 15 barangays as prone to flooding.

Buklod Tao complains that the mountains of Rizal have been leveled for years “by powerful corporations engaged in housing projects and quarry operations.”

“These corporations should be held liable for their environmental crimes as they forced out legal tenants and farming communities out of their lands, killed waterways, covered rivers with soil and boulders, and cut down hundreds of trees for the sake of profit,” Abinales lamented. – With Katherine Adraneda