Garbage invades Antique island

The first batch of Metro Manila garbage is on its way to Semirara Island in Antique, as the government’s project finally secured a go signal yesterday from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In a press conference yesterday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Jejomar Binay and Flagship Projects Secretary Roberto Aventajado announced the official implementation of R-II DMCI’s solid waste management project in Antique.

The project was finally implemented after the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau approved the environmental management plan (EMP) of the proponent yesterday.

"The permit to operate a sanitary landfill allows R-II DMCI Builders Inc. to use Barangay Semirara in Caluya, Antique, on Semirara island, as the new garbage disposal site for Metro Manila after the San Mateo landfill was permanently closed Dec. 31 of last year," Aventajado said.

In a joint statement, Binay and Aventajado pointed out that some 2,000 tons of garbage were loaded on board a barge of R-II DMCI which sailed before noon yesterday, contrary to reports that the actual voyage took place the other day.

The garbage was loaded from Pier 18 in Manila, designated the transfer station for the R-II DMCI project.

Two of DMCI’s barges were docked at Pier 18 the other day and were loaded with garbage from the transfer station to test the capacities of the transporters.

MMDA assistant general manager for operations Rogelio Uranza disclosed that they loaded the garbage on 3,000 and 4,000-tonner barges to see how much garbage could be contained in each of the two. The actual shipping was supposed to be the other day, but was delayed due to documentation problems on the part of the Philippine Ports Authority.

Uranza pointed out that a target of 2,000 to 2,400 tons of garbage per trip was set for the project, with a shipping time of around 20 hours. R-II representatives also claimed that garbage would be barged every 1.5 days. The garbage transported to the Pier 18 transfer station represents collections from Pasay City, Quezon City and the City of Manila.

Uranza noted that the other local government units are either using their own dumping sites or are sharing the ones available.

There are three existing open dumpsites in Metro Manila located in Malabon, Valenzuela and Las Piñas. A fourth dumpsite, Payatas in Quezon City, has been closed down amid stiff opposition from residents around it for its reopening.

Uranza said that he expects the volume of garbage going into the Pier 18 transfer station to increase in the next two to three months when the existing open dumpsites start to reach their maximum capacities.

The company explained that its 20-hectare site in Semirara could accommodate a total of 460,000 tons of garbage for only 2,500 tons daily over two years.

The proponents also pointed out that four hectares of the site are already available for dumping, representing a total of six months of garbage from Metro Manila.

Of the total 5,600 tons of garbage produced daily in Metro Manila, only 65 percent or 3,600 tons are actually collected by contractors. With the other LGUs and their own dumping sites, the actual daily garbage expected to be transferred to the Pier 18 site is from 2,000 to 2,500 tons only.

Uranza also noted that the estimates submitted by the LGU’s regarding its garbage volume were very much overstated.

At this juncture, group of Antique residents are ready with motorized bancas to block the arrival of garbage barges from Manila as part of opposition to the project.

They insist that the project is illegal as it does not have the required environmental compliance certificate (ECC). The group has also secured an extension of a temporary restraining order issued by a regional trial court judge in Antique last Dec. 29.

A petition was filed by Antique residents led by Gideon Javier for a preliminary injunction on R-II DMCI. A TRO was issued by Judge Nery Duremdes of the Antique RTC on Dec. 29 for a period of 72 hours.

Last Jan. 2, a hearing was held at the Antique court where a petition to extend the TRO for another 20 days was made by the Antique group.

The government, represented by the Office of the Solicitor General, filed a motion to dismiss.

Duremdes granted yesterday the 20-day extension which in effect is only for 17 days as three days have already lapsed in between the expiration of the original TRO last Jan. 1 and yesterday’s decision.

However, Aventajado and Binay argued that there is no stopping the implementation of the project in light of the DENR’s approval of the proponent’s EMP. The project of R-II DMCI was described as an integrated solid waste management facility or what Aventajado called an "honest to goodness sanitary landfill."– Jose Rodel Clapano