Ombudsman finds probable cause to indict ex-Paombong mayor, 10 others for keeping dumpsite open

The Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to indict former Paombong, Bulacan Mayor Isagani Castro and 10 other municipal officials at the Sandiganbayan for approving an open dumpsite to operate despite a closure order.

Also included as respondents to the case are former Vice Mayor Marisa Ramos; former Councilors Myrna Valencia, Luisito Arellano, Francisco Valencia, Maximo Tanghal, and Reynaldo Sulit; incumbent Councilors Arnaldo Mendoza, James Jester Santos, and Zoilo Estrella; and Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer (MENRO) Marciana Tanghal.

The respondents allegedly violated Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Mendoza, Santos, Estrella and Tanghal were also found administratively liable for gross neglect of duty, and ordered suspended for one year.

The dumpsite in Barangay San Isidro II continued to operate despite a 2011 cease and desist order from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Office (DENRRO) in 2011, according to findings of investigators from the Environmental Ombudsman.

It was still operating after four years when Environmental Management Bureau Region III personnel inspected the dumpsite on July 3, 2015, the Ombudsman said.

DENRRO ordered the waste disposal site to shut down before the end of July 2015, but a follow-up inspection on November 20 that same year revealed that the local government unit had defied the order, according to the Ombudsman.

The dumpsite is adjacent to the Angat River Labangan Channel, with a fishpond located in a nearby residential, according to the Ombudsman’s investigators who conducted a separate ocular inspection in August 2016.

The investigators noted that garbage from dumpsite has reached the river.

RA 9003 bestows the responsibility of implementing the law upon local government units, which Castro and his co-respondents supposedly failed to follow, according to the Ombudsman.

“In this case, respondents, as the principal officials of the Municipality of Paombong, Bulacan, not only glaringly failed to perform their legal duty, but likewise blatantly and with impunity violated the law by unabashedly operating an open dumpsite,” the Ombudsman said.

“The establishment and operation of open dumps by any person, including local government units, are prohibited and penalized under RA No. 9003.  The proscription became effective when the law took effect on February 15, 2001. Five years thereafter, even the operation of controlled dumps was no longer allowed.” —VDS, GMA News