SB: Payatas dumpsite should be closed

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the Payatas dumpsite has to be closed to prevent a similar tragedy where tons of garbage collapsed and buried hundreds of residents alive on July 10 last year.

"Eventually, it has to be closed," said Belmonte "but finding another dumpsite would not be a solution to the problem of garbage, but proper management is."

The mayor’s pronouncement came five days before the first anniversary of the Payatas tragedy. Occupants of about 300 shanties were all asleep when the mountain of garbage eroded and collapsed, covering their houses, at around 5 a.m. last July 10. A total of 232 persons were killed and 655 families were rendered homeless.

Belmonte met yesterday with members of the City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) to discuss the plight of the victims of the tragedy and work on proper garbage management.

The mayor noted he would conduct a similar meeting with personnel of the Quezon City Solid Waste Management office.

"We are currently studying some alternative ideas to address the garbage problem," Belmonte said. "What we want to do here in Quezon City is to remove the dumpsite by establishing a composting center where we can treat our garbage."

"The days of dumpsites are over but we have to be sure everybody is safe," the local chief executive stressed.

At the height of the search and rescue operations in the garbage tragedy, then President Joseph Estrada ordered the immediate closure of the dumpsite in Barangay Lupang Pangako, Payatas.

But the dumpsite was reopened a few weeks later when former Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. appealed for its reopening to avoid an epidemic in the city due to uncollected garbage. – Cecille Suerte Felipe