EDITORIAL — A growing stink

Can’t anything be undertaken in this country without being tainted by scandal? As residents of Metro Manila worry about a garbage crisis, a different kind of stink is engulfing the operation of a new 19-hectare sanitary landfill in Rodriguez, Rizal. The operator of the new landfill is accusing the local government of misusing P900 million generated from six years of operating the former landfill, a 14-hectare area in Montalban that was ordered shut down recently by Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III. Lawyer Andy Santiago also accused Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo of wanting to turn the landfill operation into a family business.

Santiago is seeking a Senate probe of his accusations, and he is likely to get what he wants. Cuerpo has said he is ready to face the Senate, and lawmakers will grab any chance to get live coverage of yet another corruption scandal. Over the weekend the mayor led protesters in barring entry to the new landfill, insisting that the old one in Montalban could still be used. Shutting down the old dump would deprive the local government of P150 million in annual revenue, Cuerpo said — money that is being used to build school buildings and roads in Barangay San Isidro where the landfill is located.

In the meantime, Metro Manila is getting buried in garbage. The National Capital Region generates from 6,000 to 8,000 metric tons of garbage daily, 2,000 tons of which used to be dumped at the Montalban landfill. The dispute over the landfill has led to the accumulation of about 60,000 cubic meters of garbage in Metro Manila, according to reports. No amount of pleading from the Metro Manila Development Authority and local politicians can seem to sway the protagonists in this latest scandal to patch up their dispute and make space available for the growing mountain of garbage.