Averting a possible garbage crisis, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo yesterday ordered the reopening of the 14-hectare Montalban sanitary landfill.
This came as President Arroyo yesterday ordered Malacañang officials to immediately resolve the squabble between Cuerpo and Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III over the operation of dumpsites in Rizal province.
Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde said Mrs. Arroyo directed Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando to quickly work out a solution to the feud between Ynares and Cuerpo over two sanitary landfills in the province adjacent to Metro Manila.
Four days earlier, Cuerpo shut down the Montalban landfill because of a disagreement with the Rizal provincial government.
But he ordered the reopening of the facility after the DILG ruled yesterday in his favor in his word war with Ynares.
The DILG stated in a legal opinion that the operation of the Montalban Solid Waste Disposal Facilities (MSWDF) clearly states that the basic services of solid waste disposal are devolved only to municipalities.
Cuerpo had posed three questions to the DILG. First, who has the power and authority to determine whether the MSWDF could still be utilized to service the garbage disposal needs of Metro Manila and the province of Rizal.
Second, who has the power to order the closure of the MSWDF; and third, who has the power to allow/permit opening and operations of a solid waste management facility within the territorial jurisdiction of Rodriguez.
The landfill is host to at least 8,000 metric tons of garbage from 17 cities and a municipality of Metro Manila.
DILG explains
In its legal opinion, the DILG favored Cuerpo’s claim of jurisdiction over the landfill, saying, “Section 17 devolved the basic services of solid waste disposal system only to municipalities.”
In the mayor’s third query, it stated that if the solid waste disposal is to be undertaken by a private entity, the mayor’s permit is a requirement in addition to the permits and clearances issued by the national government’s agencies tasked to implement RA 9003 – in this case, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
If, on the other hand, the solid waste disposal facility is run by the municipal government, then it is still has to secure the required clearances and permits from the national agency.
It wasn’t clear what will happen now to the adjacent 19-hectare landfill, which Cuerpo had ordered closed at the height of his conflict with Ynares.
DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero issued the four-page reaction to the letter of Cuerpo requesting a legal opinion on the controversy.
“It is the DENR that has the power to control the matter and not the governor or the mayor. We interpreted the issue based on the law that is available,” Panadero told The STAR.
Panadero’s letter noted that a reading of the powers of the Sangguinang Panlalawigan yielded no provision vesting on it the power to regulate solid waste disposal activities.
“In this regard, the power to issue permits or licenses is an incident of regulation. Considering that the power to regulate solid waste disposal is given to the Sangguniang Bayan, then it can be fairly concluded that it is the mayor who issues permits with respect to activities related to such regulation,” the letter added.
On the other hand, since the Sandigan Panlalawigan is not vested with the power to regulate solid waste disposal, then there is no incident by which a governor can issue a permit for such activity.
“The governor is bereft also of the power to order closure for violation of the permit as, in the first place, there was none issued by his office.”
The controversy started Oct. 9 when Ynares ordered the closure of the 14-hectare landfill following concerns raised by the provincial board regarding the safety of the residents in the area. The board said the landfill could no longer accommodate further dumping of garbage.
The municipal government operates the 14-hectare landfill.
The provincial government, however, ordered its closure and opened a new 19-hectare facility beside it.
The new landfill, which will be administered by the provincial government, angered Cuerpo, who in turn ordered the closure of both landfills.
At least 40 percent of Metro Manila’s daily garbage collections are dumped at the Rodriguez landfill.
Long-term measures
As the President stepped in to settle the controversy, Remonde said Puno and Fernando were also directed to coordinate with mayors of the 17 cities and one municipality comprising the National Capital Region for long-term measures on waste management.
Puno is also presidential adviser for political affairs while the MMDA is under the Office of the President. The MMDA, however, does not have jurisdiction outside Metro Manila.
“The problem basically is that we really don’t have sufficient sanitary landfills while households and industries produce too much waste or are inefficient so we must work out a long term solution, including reducing the volume of waste, while we resolve the legal issues on the short term,” Puno said in a telephone interview.
According to Puno, compounding the metro’s waste problem is that many communities reject the idea of having a sanitary landfill in their area even if it is one of the most environment-friendly ways of disposing garbage.
Puno gave assurance that he would try to forge a permanent solution so that the dispute would not reach the courts, as a long-drawn litigation would only worsen the garbage situation.
“This is not an issue or dispute that has been brewing for a long time, it happened suddenly but this has to be corrected by policies and procedures so such issues won’t crop up again,” he said.
The MMDA, meanwhile, assured residents that Metro Manila will not be buried under garbage.
In a telephone interview, MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno also described as “baseless” fears of a looming garbage crisis as expressed by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and Association of Metro Manila Environment Offices (AMMEO) president Danilo Villas.
Nacianceno said Binay’s threat to dump 2,500 cubic meters of waste produced daily by the city at the doorstep of the MDDA office in Makati could have been born out of “misinformation” from his garbage managers.
“In our meeting last Tuesday, all the garbage managers of Local Government Units (LGUs) were there. We have identified three more dumpsites where Metro Manila’s garbage will be dumped and Makati was assigned to San Pedro, Laguna and Pier 18 in Clark,” Nacianceno said.
He added that during the meeting, only Villas, who also heads Makati City’s Department of Environmental Services, appeared “problematic” on where to dump Makati’s garbage.
“He was the only alarmist in the group,” Nacianceno said.
‘Zero-waste principle’
A group pushing for a garbage-free Philippines yesterday urged LGUs to immediately adopt the “zero-waste” principle in managing their respective garbage.
The Ecological Waste Coalition said the LGUs should now be focusing its energies and re-aligning its funds toward zero-waste programs that will reduce and eventually stop the creation of trash, and assist communities to ecologically manage their garbage.
Manny Calonzo, secretary of EcoWaste, told The STAR that it is imperative for LGUs to implement the zero-waste principle, because such system seeks to prevent and eliminate waste rather than just manage waste after it has been generated.
“It combines innovative policies and systems to reduce the volume and toxicity of discarded resources,” Calonzo explained.
According to Calonzo, the waste prevention and reduction projects being implemented in some LGUs, notably at the community or barangay level, are integral pieces of the zero-waste approach.
He also said that other components of the zero-waste principle include policies that will make producers responsible for their products throughout their life cycle; policies that will phase out materials that are not eco-friendly; and policies that will push for ecological substitutes to toxic materials, among many others. – with Jose Rodel Clapano, Katherine Adraneda