MMDA’s new landfill in Navotas, not Malabon

The sanitary landfill in Malabon referred to by Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager Robert Nacianceno last Wednesday, is actually in Navotas.

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco admitted this in an interview yesterday even as he said the town dump is ready to take in Metro Manila’s garbage.

"The site is, in fact, ready in a day or two from now," said Tiangco. "Kaya lang, dump operators Philippine Ecology Systems Corporation might be able to legally start operations in September because of the required paperwork," the mayor said.

The dump abuts the former controlled disposal facility (CDF) of Tanza, which closed last February 16, 2006.

Tiangco said the former Tanza CDF in Navotas is now legally a sanitary landfill and is open to interested local government units.

Earlier, Malabon officials said they were clueless about a new landfill in the city.

City Mayor Canuto "Tito" Oreta denied knowing anything about the landfill issue even as he renewed his request for the reopening of the now closed Catmon dump "because the city can ill-afford it."

The response was in reaction to a report that quoted Nacianceno that a new sanitary landfill in Malabon, covering 20 hectares, will soon be ready to take in tons of trash."

In its report to Oreta, the city’s Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) also belied the reports in the media.

"Malabon vehemently denies the veracity of such article. I was, in fact, surprised about the pronouncement by the MMDA," said Engineer Enrico Racho, Malabon SWMO chief.

Racho, however, said in the same report that about three months back, representatives from the Phileco visited the Office of the Mayor and introduced a project proposal for a sanitary landfill but "utilizing" the Tanza Sanitary Landfill in Tanza, Navotas. He said he gathered that the landfill could cater to the needs of the local government units in Camanava and Manila.

"Since then, nothing has been finalized nor contracted to that effect by the city government," said Racho.

Oreta in May this year, pleaded for understanding from the Philippine Bar Association (PBA), who filed charges against two other Metro mayors, including himself, for alleged non-compliance with the Philippine Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Oreta said he is trying his best under the circumstances but the city government is hounded by financial constraints.

The mayor has also sought the support of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) asking the same office to re-open the now closed Catmon dump.

"We would like to reiterate our request for the DENR to re-open the Catmon dump as an immediate solution to our current garbage disposal problem. It is also not true that the Catmon is already full," Oreta said.

Bong Padua, Malabon City’s public information officer, said the city government has enough trouble with its perennial flood problem and would not compound it by building a sanitary landfill for Metro Manila’s garbage.

"The city government and the residents will not allow that landfill in our area," he said.

The Catmon dump has been a closed facility when Oreta assumed office in July last year. The mayor said that in 2004, P42 million of the city’s P501-million budget was set aside for hauling Malabon’s garbage whereas the actual cost has soared to P92 million.

He told The STAR the city spends some P5,000 per truck per day for hauling garbage to Montalban, some 84 kilometers away.

Except for the Payatas facility in Quezon City and the Tanza CDF in Navotas, all open dumps operating in Metro Manila were officially closed last Feb. 16, 2006 as ordered by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. — With Pete Laude