Navotas dump is legal, safe — Tiangco

The folks on the other side of the river may not like the stench of garbage wafting in their side of the air space, but they will just have to still cover their noses because garbage, in any language, stinks.

But the stink can be minimized further, Navotas authorities said yesterday.

Navotas is not blind to Obando’s legitimate grievances and will do its best to find solutions the best way it can without prejudicing its own interests, Navotas Mayor Tobias Reynald Tiangco said yesterday.

Tiangco assured residents of Obando, Bulacan that, except for the smell during unloading from the barges, the Tanza Controlled Disposal Facility (CDF) itself, is perfectly legal, environment-friendly and safe despite protestations of cause-oriented groups claiming the contrary.

The mayor said he is not sitting idly by. He disclosed that something is being done to specifically address this particular inconvenience.

Today, a working group consisting of representatives from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the DENR, Navotas and Obando local government will meet on doable solutions to minimize the smell.

"It is not even the site that smells. The stench they are talking about comes only during the unloading. Pag hinalukay mo ang basura, talagang mangangamoy. But this is not a constant. The smell vanishes after unloading because the garbage is immediately topped with a six-inch soil cover. And although we don’t use chemicals because they are not safe, we use biodegradable enzymes to counter the natural stink of decomposing waste," Tiangco pointed out.

The mayor also added that last Monday, he had met with DENR Secretary Elisea Gozun and Obando Mayor Joaquin Onesimo precisely to thresh out nagging problems related to the dumpsite.

On allegations that the dumpsite is polluting the water tables thus posing a hazard to the health of Obando residents, Tiangco said the DENR just came out with results of water samples showing that water quality is in accordance with standards. It also reiterated that the CDF, which opened May 2002, is legal, has complied with all requirements, including the environment compliance certificate (ECC). He also took exception to charges that the dumpsite operation has caused severe loss of livelihood for the local fisherfolk. The complainants claim that the fishing nets where the barges pass have been destroyed and have pushed the Obando council to pass an ordinance banning the passage of the river barges. Tiangco said obstructions in the river channels are prohibited by law. The arguments are simply flawed, if not contradictory. He said he has always followed the law.

"The National Solid Waste Management Board (NSWMB) of the DENR has okayed the dump. I do not know how they are going to deal with that. It is the authority mandated by law (RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000)," Tiangco said.

Obando shares a common natural boundary with Navotas and is within sniffing distance of the Tanza Controlled Dump Facility, a 10-hectare idle fishpond converted into a dumpsite by the Navotas government.

RA 9003 allows the use of a CDF by local governments for a period of five years maximum from the effectivity of the law. The Tanza dump will be converted later and upgraded into a sanitary landfill.