Navotas offers dump to replace Montalban

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco offered yesterday the town’s controlled garbage dump as an alternative site for local government units in Metro Manila that would be left with no place for their waste even as the Montalban landfill became non-operational as of midnight Wednesday.

"This is consistent with our intent and continuous desire to be a part of and contribute to the early and proper resolution of the garbage crisis similar to what we did by offering the Tanza Controlled Disposal Facility at the height of the 2001 garbage crisis," Tiangco said in a letter to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando.

Tiangco urged Fernando to give preferential attention to Navotas’ request for assistance and offer the Tanza facility as host to the solid waste of other LGUs.

Tiangco’s offer came on the heels of a writ of injunction issued last Wednesday by a Malolos court favoring the Navotas government in removing the now six-month-old barricade put up by Obando fisherfolk at the Binuawagan River, Obando and Navotas’ common boundary.

Obando residents have been protesting the entry of solid waste being dumped in the Tanza facility. The largely fishing community claimed the Navotas dump has adversely affected their livelihood and health.

The DENR and groups of environmentalists, however, have consistently favored Navotas’ position that the dump was perfectly legal and has the stamp of approval by proper authorities. The CDF is due for closure on Dec.31.

In an eight-page decision, Bulacan Judge Alexander Tamayo ordered the Municipality of Obando, Bulacan represented by Mayor Zoilito Santiago, the Sangguniang Bayan of Obando and their agents and representatives acting in their behalf, to refrain from blocking the barges of dump operators Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. to and from the facility.

Tiangco, in his letter to Fernando dated Oct. 26, asked the MMDA chief to intercede in Navotas’ behalf in securing the support of various national government agencies such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the PNP to effectively carry out the court order securing the safe passage for the solid waste barges to and from the Tanza facility.

Tiangco also expressed confidence that through Fernando’s intervention, the Municipality of Obando may be encouraged to cooperate in effectively carrying out the court order.

Meanwhile, Pasay Mayor Wenceslao "Peewee" Trinidad said a mega-Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) would be built in the city to ease the mounting garbage problem.

Trinidad said there are existing MRFs in every barangay in the city. "But we are planning to come out with a big-sized MRF next year to cater to the needs of the whole locality," he said.

The MRFs serve as stations where waste materials are reused or recycled.

Trinidad said he would be sending a representative to meet with Fernando to discuss the garbage problem in Metro Manila.

"Garbage is one of the major problems. The closure of the Montalban dump poses a major dilemma for us," he said.

The Montalban facility was closed by the Municipality of Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) after the MMDA failed to grant its request for a raise in tipping fees from the current P600 per ton to P800 per ton.

Garbage of at least 12 cities and municiplaties, including Pasay, is dumped in Montalban. – With Rhodina Villanueva, SandyAraneta