DENR told: Help stop 'crucifixion' of Mother Nature in San Mateo

MANILA, Philippines - Hundreds of residents of Barangay Guitnang Bayan II in San Mateo, Rizal staged yesterday a vigil urging Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza Jr. to stop the “crucifixion” of Mother Nature in their town by revoking the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to a new sanitary landfill because it is located in a wrong barangay.

The residents, together with environmentalists and other concerned citizens, said just as Atienza asked for a stop to the “public crucifixion” of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources following a series of criticisms about its performance, “so do we also now pray and ask for the intervention of the DENR in stopping the ongoing ‘crucifixion’ of Mother Nature in San Mateo.”

Atienza earlier had vowed to immediately recall the ECC he issued to the new 19-hectare San Mateo sanitary landfill if groups opposing it could show evidence it is not located in Barangay Pintong Bukawe, as what he had approved of.

Antonio Balute, president of the Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo, said they already submitted documents to Atienza’s office last Thursday showing that the landfill is located at the boundary of Barangays Guinayan and Maly, not in Pintong Bukawe as stated in the ECC.

Among the documents were a certification issued by Augusto San Andres, San Mateo municipal assessor, that the landfill is located in Sitio Mabilog, Barangay Guinayan, and another certification from the Environment Management Board (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 4-A that the landfill is found in Barangay Maly.

“With the evidence we submitted before the DENR, Atienza should make good his promise to recall the ECC of the landfill,” Balute said.

“What we want is development which may bring us residents more job opportunities and not garbage which is a health hazard for us, especially our children,” he added.

The DENR would conduct a deeper probe on the matter and promised to release its findings on whether the landfill is located in Pintong Bukawe or Barangay Maly and Guinayan on April 14.

The residents said they are willing to wait for the DENR report pending their next actions.

The residents’ vigil was staged near the Abuab River in Barangay Guitnang Bayan II, which started with a Mass officiated by Fr. Timoteo Esquillo.

On the site is the landfill’s transfer station, which the residents said lacks an ECC, too.

The residents are opposing the presence of the transfer station in their community despite an assurance from lawyer Andy Santiago, president of the company behind the controversial landfill, that it has proper safety measures in place.

With regards to the documents pertaining to the operation of the transfer station, Santiago told the residents they are working on it with the municipal government.

Balute said San Mateo Mayor Rafael Diaz should join them in their effort to stop the landfill from operating, citing his slogan painted in the streets, “San Mateo, Bayan Ko, Mahalin Natin To.”

“How can we show love to our town if garbage is the one we are putting in? What we need here are not wastes but development projects such as ecotourism,” he said in Filipino.

Instead of allowing the operation of the landfill, Balute said Diaz should exert extra effort to convince local and foreign investors to put in capital in the municipality to generate jobs for the residents.

He also said the narrow roads leading to the landfill would cause problems for the residents like heavy traffic due to the big number of dump trucks that would pass through them.

“Instead of farm-to-market roads, what we have, should the landfill start operating, are farm-to-garbage roads,” he said.

Balute said the P380-million landfill, which started construction in July last year, was put up without prior consultations with the residents.

The project was completed last December and was scheduled to start accepting tons of garbage from Metro Manila and Rizal last January, but the Filinvest Land Inc. sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against it before the San Mateo municipal trial court.

Filinvest owns at least 677 hectares of developed and undeveloped lands in the vicinity of the landfill, including the posh subdivision Timberland Heights.

A TRO hearing is slated at the landfill site this Tuesday for the court to determine its exact location, Balute said.