SC asked to stop Obando landfill

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has been asked to stop the P600-million sanitary landfill project in a fishing village in Obando, Bulacan.

Parishioners of Obando led by Fr. Vergs Ramos and Maria Teresa Bondoc asked the high court on Wednesday to reverse the rulings of the Court of Appeals (CA) in August and December last year dismissing their petition for a writ of kalikasan.

They also asked the SC to stop the construction of the landfill by Ecoshield Development Corp. on a 45-hectare land in Barangay Salambao. 

Carrying the image of their patroness, Our Lady of Salambao, the parishioners performed a fertility dance in front of the SC compound on Padre Faura street in Manila when they filed the petition.

“Toxic fluid from the garbage…will poison the waters, air, fish, plants, and ultimately, the residents not only of Obando but the communities surrounding Manila Bay,” the petitioners said.

They said the project, which also involves the destruction of mangroves to accommodate the dump, violates their constitutional right to a healthy and balanced ecology. 

The CA ruling said there is no basis to stop the project, which it even lauded for being “environmentally safer” compared to other sanitary landfills.

It gave weight to EDC’s argument that the landfill will address solid waste management problems in Obando. The firm has spent P500 million on the project as of June 2013. 

The CA said the writ of kalikasan is available “when there is such a significant degree of environmental damage as to prejudice the life, health, and property of inhabitants in two or more cities or provinces,” which it said is not the case with the Obando landfill.

It also cited illegal and indiscriminate dumping as a “big threat to the environment.”