Ocular inspection of San Mateo landfill postponed due to rains

MANILA, Philippines – The scheduled ocular inspection by a San Mateo regional trial court (RTC) judge of the 19-hectare landfill in the Rizal town last Wednesday to determine its exact location was cancelled in the last minute due to heavy rains.

Judge Manuel Taro of San Mateo RTC Branch 75 decided to postpone the ocular inspection after heavy rains caused the slippery mountain road leading to the landfill risky to negotiate and impassable to small types of vehicles.

An ocular inspection of the disputed landfill was scheduled by Taro on April 22 to determine its exact location and compliance with the terms and conditions of its environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

The ECC granted by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza showed that the dumpsite is located in Barangay Pintong Bukawe.

However, the mapping zone of the San Mateo town showed that the landfill is located in Barangays Maly and Guinayang.

Environmentalists pointed out that there is a dump in Pintong Bukawe but it was shut down upon orders of the Supreme Court in 2005.

The San Mateo Sanitary Landfill and Development Corp. (SMSLDC) owned by contractor Abelardo Salazar is already using the initial phase of the landfill.

The initial 19-hectare landfill site is reported to be expandable to 200 hectares. “This is almost 50 percent of the 473-hectare protected forest area in Barangays Maly and Guinayang,” said Clemente Bautista of the Kalikasan People’s Network (KPN).

“Worse still, all of Metro Manila depends on water coming from the Marikina watershed, of which the dump is a part,” Bautista added. 

Bautista cited an intricate water system of streams and in addition, the Marikina River, the Pasig River and the Laguna Lake, all of which “it is easy to see will be the beneficiaries of polluted leachate and any number of water-borne pernicious diseases.”

Joining Bautista’s KPN in the protest against the landfill are the Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo, over 500 members of the Bike Roadie Group, the UP Mountaineers, and the Firefly Brigade.

Earlier, several major television networks and reporters from national dailies were threatened on two occasions by barangay tanods and gun-toting private guards when they attempted to reach the landfill to take footages and photos.

Atienza vowed to cancel the ECC of the landfill once the protesting environmentalists submitted proof that the dump was located not in Barangay Pintong Bukawe, as declared in the document.

But Atienza tossed the problem to decide on the issue to Taro, upon learning that there is a pending case to determine the exact location of the landfill.

The management of Filinvest Land Inc. filed a petition seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the landfill project, citing the health and other hazards it might bring.

Filinvest Land Inc. is developing two large subdivisions in the area.

Taro has instructed Filinvest as well as the SMSLDC, various local government officials, and Atienza as defendants in the petition to bring Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and whatever else may be necessary to once and for all pinpoint the landfill’s exact location.

The ocular inspection has been reset for May 6 at 10 a.m. – Non Alquitran