Residents ask SC to stop Payatas dumpsite ops, expansion

Several homeowners and homeowners' associations in Quezon City and Rizal province have asked the Supreme Court to stop the operation and expansion of the Payatas Sanitary Landfill.

 

In a petition for a writ of kalikasan, the petitioners - composed of eight homeowners associations and two residents - claimed private garbage disposal contractor IPM Environmental Services Inc, a respondent in the case, has "encroached" on the residential areas in Lupang Pangako, Phase 2 and Phase 3, Payatas B, which are communities in Payatas, through its Solid Waste Management Facility Agreement with the Quezon City government.

 

"IPM likewise threatens, harasses and intimidates the residents in the area in order to compel them to sell and vacate the lots awarded to their favor," read the petition, adding that residents were forced to accept money to have their houses demolished and give way for the expansion of the dumpsite.

 

A writ of kalikasan is a legal remedy which provides for the protection of one's right to "a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature," as provided for in Section 16, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

 

The petitioners are also asking the SC to issue a temporary environmental protection order to stop the landfill operations while their petition is being heard by the court.

 

Also named respondents were Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and various local city officials.

 

The petitioners claimed IPM has exceeded the maximum amount of garbage it can haul and dump at the site, which should not exceed 800 tons with an area of 32,000 square meters, based on the environment compliance certificate issued to the company.

 

In the first half of November 2013 alone, IPM supposedly dumped 1,240 tons of garbage not only in the allowable area of within 32,000 square meters but also beyond it.

 

Payatas, located in Batasan Hills, is one of the bigger dumpsites among the more than 1,000 dumpsites across the country. The area currently filled with garbage is about 6.1 hectares, while Payatas B, Lot-76 community is about 12 hectares.

 

Despite its name earlier being changed to a "sanitary landfill," Payatas still operates as an open and controlled dumpsite since a sanitary landfill by law should only accept residual wastes and not mixed wastes, as is happening now, the petitioners said.

 

The petitioners also said the continuous dumping violated Section 40, Paragraph (d) of RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which states that "the site must be chosen with regard for the sensitivities of the community's resident."

The residents fear a repeat of the July 10, 2000 "garbage slide" where around 270 were killed when an avalanche of trash came down on houses in the area.

 

The petitioners said the Payatas residents were at risk of lead poisoning, respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis and cancer, among others.

 

The leachate from the dumpsite seeps through the ground and aquifers to the nearby San Mateo River which connects to Montalban, Marikina and Pasig Rivers, and on to Manila Bay. It is also right beside the La Mesa Dam water reservoir.

 

This, the petitioners argued, was in violation of RA 9003, which stresses the importance of ensuring the sanitary landfill does not harm environmentally sensitive resources likes aquifer, groundwater reservoir, and watershed areas.

 

The sanitary landfill operations also violate Section 40, Par. (f) of the same law, because they continue despite a provision in the law that requires that in five years' time, residents of Payatas should have shifted to and "internalized the value of environmentally sound and sustainable solid waste disposal." — JDS, GMA News