DENR hit for 'dilly-dallying' on San Mateo landfill issue

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of San Mateo, Rizal and environment groups Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) and Coalition for Garbage-Free San Mateo staged a protest yesterday in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) office in Quezon City and scored what they described as the agency’s “dilly-dallying” on the controversial new San Mateo landfill project.

The protesters dumped garbage bags in front of the DENR gate to symbolize their “disgust” over the agency’s “indecisiveness” amid the clamor for the termination of the landfill project, which they said is located within a forest and watershed area.

“It seems that DENR Secretary Lito Atienza and Environment Management Bureau (EMB) director Julian Amador decided to just abandon their responsibility to correct the mistake in their issuance of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and prosecution of the San Mateo Sanitary Landfill Development Corp. (SMSLDC) for its violations and misrepresentation,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE.

In a dialogue with representatives of San Mateo residents and environmentalists opposing the project last March 26, the EMB vowed to conduct an investigation and release in 10 days its recommendations on whether to cancel the landfill’s ECC or not. The 10-day period has lapsed.

“We submitted documents to Amador and other DENR officials during the dialogue. We gave the DENR the certified and approved copy of the zoning map of the municipality of San Mateo and the transfer of certificate of land title number 491828,” Bautista said.

He said they also submitted certifications issued by the San Mateo municipal assessor’s office, the DENR-Region IV’s Survey Division Office and the Department of Agrarian Reform-Region IV “which all show that the landfill project is located not in Barangay Pintung Bukawe, but in Barangays Maly and Guinayang.”

“It’s very easy and simple to validate the documents we submitted to them. They just need to counter-check if (these are) true and legal… By doing just that (the) DENR could immediately decide whether or not to cancel the permit of SMSLDC for its landfill project. And if proven otherwise, they can even charge us with falsification of documents,” he added.

For his part, Tony Balute, spokesman of the Coalition for Garbage-Free San Mateo, said, “The aggrieved party here is the people of San Mateo, who are bound to suffer and pay dearly for every minute of DENR’s inaction.”