Rizal gov’t secures clearance to operate landfill

The provincial government of Rizal was finally able to get a provisional environmental compliance certificate to operate the hotly contested sanitary landfill in Montalban town, GMA’s Flash Report said Sunday. The television report said Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III waited nine months for the issuance of the provisional ECC from Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA). Ynares said he hopes the temporary clearance will finally end the rift between the provincial government and Montalban Mayor Pedro Cuerpo, the report said. LLDA General Manager Edgardo Manda stated in a letter to the Rizal government the conditions the latter should follow in operating the 19-hectare landfill. Two weeks ago, residents and town hall employees of Rodriguez formed a human barricade near the town's landfill and stopped dump trucks carrying Metro Manila's garbage. Residents flashed placards questioning Ynares's decision to control the facility instead of allowing the town to manage it. Many of the residents said Ynares's decision tends to deny local town folk potential job opportunities at the facility. Cuerpo said that until issues surrounding the new landfill are ironed out, a garbage crisis is looming in Metro Manila as dump trucks will not be allowed to enter the dump site. He said the new landfill managed by the Rizal provincial government has "no permission" from his town government. He said Montalban started the landfill project, but when the town finally started getting revenue from the dump site, the provincial government cut in and insisted on managing the facility. "Why will the provincial government come in and take the landfill when we have the right to manage it? That's illegal," he said. GMA News Saksi earlier reported the Rizal provincial government has already signed a memorandum of agreement with a private landfill operator for the Rodriguez site. The MOA, the report said, showed that the landfill operator deals directly with the provincial government and not the municipality of Rodriguez. "Violations in the old dumpsite, the 14-hectare landfill, we made sure that these will not happen with the new landfill," Ynares told GMA News. The GMA News report added that dump trucks pay P495 for each visit to the Rodriguez landfill. As many as 200 trucks enter the area daily. This means that the collections can reach P99,000 a day or P2.97 million a month. Based on the provincial government's plan, half of the earnings will go to towns near the landfill, the GMA News report said. Days later, after talks with Ynares and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando, Cuerpo agreed to open the landfill. - GMANews.TV