Convene ‘garbage summit,’ Abalos told

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered yesterday the holding of a garbage summit to find a comprehensive solution to the country’s waste disposal problem.

Mrs. Arroyo, in her press briefing, said she has instructed newly appointed Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benjamin Abalos to organize the summit as soon as possible.

Mrs. Arroyo said the summit will have to resolve issues on which waste disposal schemes will be adopted in an effort to find immediate, medium- and long-term solutions to the garbage problem.

Some sectors have revived proposals to use incineration even as MMDA officials have been looking for landfill and dumping sites outside the metropolis.

In other developments:

• Abalos has finally withdrawn plans to use the Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac as dumping ground for Metro Manila’s garbage, according to Capas Mayor Reynaldo David.

• The MMDA has received a proposal for a landfill project in Agdangan, Quezon, with Metro Manila’s garbage placed in plastic bags and transported to the site aboard wagons of the Philippine National Railways.

• Francis Gideon Javier, son of slain former Antique governor Evelio Javier, filed graft charges yesterday against former MMDA chairman Jejomar Binay, former Presidential Flagship Programs Secretary Robert Aventajado and contractors DM Consunji and R-II Builders over the failed sanitary landfill project in Semirara Island, Antique.

Abalos, reportedly upon the instructions of Mrs. Arroyo, visited Capas, Tarlac Wednesday night to consult with Mayor David about the use of Crow Valley for Metro Manila’s garbage.

"Abalos was under the impression that plans had been finalized by his predecessor," David said.

Mere reports

"What we heard were mere reports aired by Ernesto Maceda on television about Crow Valley being considered as dumping site for Metro Manila’s wastes," he added.

David said he convinced Abalos against using Crow Valley, after he explained that the valley is now filled with lahar debris from Mt. Pinatubo.

"I told him that during the rainy season, the valley becomes a channel for strong water currents that flow through Tarlac City and eventually into the Agno River in Pangasinan," he said.

David said local officials would seek a court injunction should there be any move to use Crow Valley as dumping site.

He said he suggested to Abalos to consider instead, lahar-buried areas in Porac, Pampanga as possible dumping site.

Meanwhile, David said he is still studying the acceptability of the proposed 100-hectare sanitary landfill in Barangay Kalangitan, within the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ).

Clark landfill

Earlier, Rogelio Singson, Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) chairman and Clark Development Corp. (CDC) president, said the German BN Consortium firm was rushing the landfill project after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) granted an environmental clearance certificate (ECC) for the $6-million project two weeks ago.

While the landfill would accommodate primarily local garbage, Singson said it might also be used for wastes from Metro Manila to meet the required garbage volume to make the landfill’s operation economically feasible.

David recalled that the municipal board of Capas approved in 1992 a resolution turning over jurisdiction over some 24,000 hectares at this town’s boundary to the BCDA as part of the CSEZ.

"But that was on the promise that the CDC would remit to the towns covered by the CSEZ at least one percent of the gross income earned by the CDC from investors at the zone," David said.

"Since then, we have received nothing, so we are considering withdrawing (the) resolution and assuming administrative jurisdiction over our 24,000-hectare area and collecting taxes from businesses there," David said.

Quezon proposal

Meanwhile, Abalos said the Herma Group of Companies, led by one Herminio Esguerra, has proposed to build a sanitary landfill in Agdangan, Quezon.

Under the proposal, garbage will be placed in plastic bags Herma will provide and brought to a staging area somewhere in Caloocan or Valenzuela from where they will be transported aboard container vans on a temporary basis until PNR wagons are rehabilitated.

Metro Manila mayors are meeting with the proponent today to discuss the cost and mechanics of Herma’s proposal.

The MMDA is in a quandary after the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the dumping of garbage at the sanitary landfill in San Mateo, Rizal.

The Antique court has also issued a preliminary injunction against an earlier plan pushed by Binay and Aventajado to dump Metro Manila’s garbage on Semirara Island.

The Court of Appeals has rejected a motion for the voiding of the TRO which Antique Judge Nery Duremdes had issued earlier.

Graft charges

Francis Gideon Javier, nephew of incumbent Antique Gov. Exequiel Javier, said Binay, Aventajado, DM Consunji and R-II Builders should be made to account for P90 million the MMDA had allocated for the transport of garbage from Metro Manila to Semirara.

In a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman, the young Javier said former Environment Minister Teodoro Peña declared Semirara Island a marine turtle sanctuary in June 1982 by virtue of Administrative Order 34, which was approved by then President Marcos through Executive Order 542.

The MMDA and Aventajado, according to the complaint, caused the government "undue injury" when they proposed that garbage be dumped in the marine turtle sanctuary, and for granting a license to DM Consunji and R-II Builders even if they were unqualified.

The complaint added that the former Estrada government violated Republic Act 7586, which provides for the establishment and management of national integrated protected areas, by attempting to dump garbage in the sanctuary and exposing the island to "unsanitary conditions." — With Ding Cervantes, Marvin Sy and Delon Porcalla