Another garbage crisis looms

The mayor of Rodriguez town in Rizal province vowed yesterday to collect fees from garbage trucks entering the municipality in defiance of a ruling from the Department of Justice.

Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo told reporters he will ask the municipal council to close down the town’s two landfills if Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez finally rules that the municipality cannot collect fees from garbage haulers.

“I told Chairman (Bayani) Fernando of the (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) to be ready to find an alternate dumping site because I will order the closure of the existing landfills,” he said.

Cuerpo said it is only fair that Rodriguez be allowed to collect fees from haulers dumping garbage in the town.

“Unfair sa amin iyan kasi kami na nga ang nagmagandang loob na tanggapin ang mabahong basura tapos itinali pa ang kamay namin,” he said.

In his ruling, Gonzales said charging fees on garbage trucks entering the 14-hectare landfill in Rodriguez has “resulted in the indirect imposition of taxes” on the national government.

The law bans provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays from imposing taxes, fees, or charges of any kind on the national government, its agencies and instrumentalities, and local government units, he added.

Gonzalez said the autonomy granted to local governments by the Constitution refers to decentralization and “does not make local governments sovereign within the state.”

The Rizal Provincial Board could review the town’s ordinances and declare them void, he added.

Based on an ordinance passed by the Rodriguez Municipal Council last year, a fee of P800 to P1,000 would be charged for every garbage truck that enters the landfill.

Last Monday, Cuerpo asked Gonzalez to reconsider his ruling stopping the town from collecting fees from garbage haulers.

“I will wait for the result of my appeal because it is 15 days before a resolution will be issued by Secretary Gonzalez,” he said.

Under the scheme, haulers will first pay to the municipal treasurer before they can be allowed to enter Rodriguez town and dump their garbage in the landfills.

Failure to pay would mean that garbage trucks would not be allowed to enter the landfills.