DENR nixes Payatas dump reopening

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has turned down the request of the Quezon City government to allow its sanitary landfill in Payatas to reopen.

In a letter to Mayor Herbert Bautista, Undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs Jonas Leones cited the recommendation of the Environmental Management Bureau and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, which found numerous environmental violations committed by the landfill’s operator, IPM Environmental Services Inc.

Leones also said the dump was “highly susceptible” to trash slides should it be reopened.

In 2000, a trash slide left 218 people dead.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority shut down the landfill on July 28. The DENR affirmed the closure by issuing an order.

The EMB and MGB, both line bureaus of the DENR, conducted a joint inspection of the dump on Aug. 9, two days after DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu visited the site to determine the possibility of allowing the city government to use the landfill until the end of the year.