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Post by boomfield on Feb 4, 2009 12:53:45 GMT 8
San Mateo residents protest new landfill
By Beverly T. Natividad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:11:00 01/17/2009
Filed Under: Environmental Issues, Waste Management & Pollution Control, Waste, Consumer Issues
MANILA, Philippines -- Residents of San Mateo, Rizal along with environmental groups on Saturday launched a protest action to stop the illegal construction of a new garbage dump there.
Protesters on bikes rolled into town Saturday for a nine-kilometer bike rally to call on the Rizal provincial government to halt the construction of a garbage dump on a 19-hectare area spanning two San Mateo villages, Guinayang and Maly.
Residents of Guinayang and Maly questioned the legality of the dumpsite's construction in their villages when its environmental permit said that it is supposed to be located in the village of Pintong Bukawe.
Their calls were supported by the Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo, which is composed of environmental groups like the EcoWaste Coalition, Greenpeace, Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, as well as non-government organizations like Akbayan, Bike Roadie Group, the University of the Philippines’ Mountaineers, and the Firefly Brigade.
The residents are asking local officials and the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources to scrap plans to build a new dumpsite in San Mateo altogether.
Jing Husin, spokesperson for the coalition, said that the sanitary landfill also cannot be located in Pintong Bukawe as a 2005 Supreme Court ruling stopped the building of a garbage facility there due to fears of contaminating a nearby watershed.
“The 19-hectare initial phase of the new dumpsite built in Guinayang is located within the Marikina Watershed Reservation. According to the proposal, it is expandable to 200 hectares, which virtually removes almost half of the 473-hectare forest cover in barangays (villages) Guinayang and Maly,” said Husin.
Apart from the serious water pollution threats from garbage leachate seeping into the water systems in the area, the coalition also pointed out that the planned location of the San Mateo landfill has a slope of over 50 degrees, making it prone to natural hazards like landslides.
Residents also lamented that they were never consulted nor informed of the landfill project. Had they been, they said, they would have objected to it because of the health hazards it poses to their community.
“We are against such a project. We want to ensure the future of our children. Dirty water can only bring us sickness,” said Marciano Gulle, a pastor, and one of the protesting San Mateo residents.
“This kind of blight was the reason the old landfill in Montalban (now Rodriguez, Rizal) was closed. Now they’re opening a new landfill in San Mateo,” he added, referring to the 14-hectare garbage dump in Rodriguez which was closed by the provincial government in 2007 for having reached its full capacity.
Rizal then opened an adjacent 19-hectare landfill in Rodriguez, which now accepts garbage from both Rizal and Metro Manila residents.
Meanwhile, a convoy of media people on their way to the construction site of the San Mateo landfill were stopped and threatened by a man on horseback who wielded what appeared to be a “paltik” or homemade gun. The convoy consisted of six photographers, one reporter, and one television cameraman, plus their guides.
The man -- identified only as Jerry and said to be working for the owner of the landfill, Abelardo L. Salazar -- prohibited the media convoy from continuing on the road some 500 meters away from the landfill’s entrance and pulled out his gun to warn the group against going further.
At one point, the gun-toting “guard” threatened to shoot one of the photographers when the latter attempted to take photos of him and of the site.
The new garbage dump being built in San Mateo is said to be owned by the San Mateo Sanitary Landfill & Development Corporation (SMSLDC), which is owned by Salazar.
According to the coalition, the SMSLDC was able to secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate from the DENR in November 2008 to construct a landfill in the village of Pintong Bukawe, and not in Guinayang-Maly.
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Post by hirolionheart on Feb 4, 2009 13:43:06 GMT 8
^^^
Ang latest tungkol diyan... ;D
Handa ng tumanggap ng basura ang bagong San Mateo Landfill sa Brgy. Pintong Bukawe...
San Mateo dump gets the green light
Gigi Muoz David and Erika Z. Vizcarra
Manila Standard
2 February 2009 | 11:00 PM
Bucking opposition by environment activists, the operator of the San Mateo waste dump is ready to give it a go. Andy Santiago, president of the San Mateo Sanitary Landfill and Development Corp., said it has given the green light for the 19-hectare facility in Rizal province to do business.
The San Mateo landfill is technically operational and is soon to accept garbage from its host town and neighboring cities and municipalities, he told Standard Today.
Santiago said the town would pay no fees to bring in its garbage but Metro Manilas solid waste could be accommmodated on fixed charges.
He said the local government and Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando had yet to hammer out an agreement on terms and conditions particularly on charges.
This is the answer to the perennial garbage disposal problem not only of San Mateo but also in the nearby localities.
The new landfill in Barangay Pintong Bukawe began construction in July 2008 and was completed late December and outside the protected zone, said Santiago.
It is located seven kilometers from the watershed in contrast to what they [environmentalists] are saying. These groups are harping on the wrong facts because we have a certification that we are outside the forest and the watershed.
Beau Bacongis, Greenpeace convenor, acknowledged that the Natural Resources Environmental Management Bureau had granted Santiagos firm a compliance certificate for a site that also stradled the boundary of Maly and Guinayang.
The sanitary-engineered landfill worth an estimated P380-million project awaits a permit from the Laguna Lake Development Authority.
Santiago said the 5-hectare crater is lined up with layers of high density polyethelene membrane that is certified impermeable.
This ensures safety to the residents of San Mateo that there will be no secretions from the solid wastes that may endanger their health, he said, noting that about 2,000 of the towns 184,860 population, based on a 2007 census, will be given jobs as recyclers earning P300 to P500 daily.
All of the barangays in San Mateo has given their full support, while, we as sanitary advocates, it is our moral conviction to protect the people of San Mateo and the environment, as well. And we will protect them, Santiago said.
San Mateo Mayor Jose Rafael Diaz is gungho over the towns economic gains particularly in employment amid the global financial crunch.
The landfill is beneficial to the town especially as it will generate work to the residents of the Pintong Bukawe, he said.
As a bonus, according to Santiago, the dump would generate a refuse derived fuel or an alternative energy as a byproduct of the decomposing waste materials.
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Post by hirolionheart on Feb 23, 2009 12:54:05 GMT 8
Green groups sue San Mateo officials for dumpingabs-cbnNEWS.com | 02/16/2009 2:48 PMEnvironmental groups on Monday filed a civil suit against San Mateo Mayor Jose Rafael Diaz and Barangay Captain Cecilia Laceste for allowing the illegal dumping of garbage in the Marikina watershed.
Plaintiffs led by the EcoWaste Coalition, Buklod Tao, Reverend Fr. Alfred Albor and concerned residents asked the Regional Trial Court of San Mateo, Rizal to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the illegal dumping in Barangay Pintong Bukawe that contravenes Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Invoking their right to file a “citizen suit” under R. A. 9003, the plaintiffs accused the defendants of “clear and blatant violation of the law” that prohibits and penalizes open dumping.
“Mayor Diaz and Barangay Captain Laceste have abused their power and positions and have brazenly defied R.A. 9003. By operating the municipal dump inside the Marikina Watershed, they have put at risk the health, safety and well-being of the residents of Barangay Pintong Bukawe and adjacent communities,” Armand Mejia, legal counsel of the EcoWaste Coalition, said in a press statement.
Mejia described the open dumping in Barangay Pintong Bukawe as “grossly and patently “ violating Sections 37 and 48 of R.A. 9003, which ban the maintenance and operation of open dumps.
The plaintiffs assert that Barangay Pintong Bukawe is an environmentally-critical area as it is inside the Marikina Watershed Reservation. The dump ,which caters to mixed solid wastes of San Mateo since 2003, is situated along a ravine with a waterway located below.
The plaintiffs asked the court to declare the open dump in Barangay Pintong Bukawe illegal and to order for its permanent closure and subsequent rehabilitation.
"Adding insult to injury, the two officials also allowed the construction of a new waste disposal facility in Barangay Pintong Bukawe," said Mejia.
Buklod Tao, the EcoWaste Coalition and other groups, including Greenpeace and the Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo, have chided the authorities for allowing the construction of the new San Mateo Landfill in the said barangay in violation of an en banc decision by the Supreme Court.
In a decision penned by Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, the Supreme Court on 13 December 2005 ordered the permanent closure of the old San Mateo landfill managed by the Metro Manila Development Authority, underscoring the fact that the waste facility “has adversely affected its environs and sources of water should always be protected.”
The landmark decision upheld the ban on the construction and operation of landfills or any waste disposal facility that will detrimentally affect environmentally-critical resources such as aquifers, groundwater reservoirs and watershed areas.
In lieu of polluting dumps and landfills, Buklod Tao and the EcoWaste Coalition are pushing for the enforcement of best practices in people-driven ecological waste management, excluding the wasteful and climate warming open burning and dumping of discards.as of 02/17/2009 12:15 PMSource - www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/02/16/09/green-groups-sue-san-mateo-officials-dumping
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Post by St. Expeditus on Feb 24, 2009 23:39:48 GMT 8
naku ang gulo! ano masasabi nyo tungkol sa issue na to?
ok naman para sakin ang project ng municipal government hindi nga lang magtutugma sa torismo kapag nagkataon.
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Post by hirolionheart on Feb 25, 2009 21:29:41 GMT 8
naku ang gulo! ano masasabi nyo tungkol sa issue na to? ok naman para sakin ang project ng municipal government hindi nga lang magtutugma sa torismo kapag nagkataon. Sa akin naman, ok lang din... Kasi malayo-layo naman ang Sanitary Landfill sa mas gumagandang landscape ng Timberland Heights (soon to be fully developed)  Gayundin sa ibang dinadaanan ng mga nagbibisikleta... Ayon naman sa kanila, state-of-the-art ang facilities ng landfill na yun, hindi raw makakaapekto sa tubig ng mga residente... Medyo anlabo lang kasi sabi nung official ng San Mateo Sanitary Landfill & Development Corporation (SMSLDC) na nakakuha naman sila ng Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) mula sa DENR nung November 2008 daw... Tapos ngayon kakasuhan ng mga environmentalists ang ilang opisyal ng San Mateo...  |
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Post by skymomo on Mar 8, 2009 22:06:08 GMT 8
para sakin OK lng mag ka landfill kasi
1. Makakatipid ang San Mateo, imbes na magbayad pa sa landfill ng montalban.
2. Income din yon , malaki laki rin ang kinikita ng mga land fill
kaya lng dapat cguraduhin ng mga opisyal natin na dumaan sa tamang proseso ang landfill at hindi sya magiging hazard sa health ng mamamayan
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Post by hirolionheart on Mar 9, 2009 6:09:28 GMT 8
para sakin OK lng mag ka landfill kasi 1. Makakatipid ang San Mateo, imbes na magbayad pa sa landfill ng montalban. 2. Income din yon , malaki laki rin ang kinikita ng mga land fill kaya lng dapat cguraduhin ng mga opisyal natin na dumaan sa tamang proseso ang landfill at hindi sya magiging hazard sa health ng mamamayan Hmmm, kaya pala malaki-laki ang average annual income ng Rodriguez, dahil sa landfill nila.... Yup, income na para sa San Mateo (pwedeng gawing Methane power plant), tapos trabaho rin pala sa mga taga-dun sa bagong landfill  Basta nga lang tulad na rin ng nasabi, siguraduhing walang sabit sa ligal na proseso ang pag-o-operate nito, at hindi makakaapekto sa kalusugan ng tao gayun na rin ng kalikasan... |
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Post by gorio on Mar 13, 2009 7:13:27 GMT 8
humanda na kayo sa mabahong jp rizal at gen luna sts. lalo na pag tagulan...katas pa lang nung trak ng basura matindi na...eh yung landfill pa kaya
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Post by skymomo on Mar 13, 2009 14:27:10 GMT 8
kung sa Pintong Bukawe nga gagawin ung landfill, , sa hindi na idaan sa Gen Luna ung majority ng basurang makukuha sa Metro Manila. Katulad ng dating landfill via marikina nila idinadaan ung way papuntang silangan . Pwede namang gawing terms and condition yon .
Sana din high tech ung gagawing landfill para iwas sa leaks o mga iba pang health hazards . Sabi nga ni hirolionheart pwede ring gawing electricity ung methane na makukuha dito.
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Post by skymomo on Mar 13, 2009 14:40:17 GMT 8
Ano nga pala ung reason ng brown out sa San Mateo, from Ampid to montalban
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Post by hirolionheart on Mar 13, 2009 22:36:01 GMT 8
Ano nga pala ung reason ng brown out sa San Mateo, from Ampid to montalban Ah oo nga..., may ginagawa pa ako sa computer ng halos mag-a-alas dose na ng hatinggabi nang biglang mag-brown-out. Kaya tuloy kinaumagahan ng Huwebes pa tuloy ako nakapag-print nung ginawa ko. Hinintay ko pa talaga magka-kuryente ng mga 6am bago ako pumasok ng UP Diliman, hehehe ;D Eh wala rin kasi akong nabalitaan sa TV na scheduled brown-out sa ating lugar... |
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Post by hirolionheart on Apr 27, 2009 19:31:20 GMT 8
Mula sa binalita ni Arman Lim sa Guestbook ng Batangsanmateo - www.anvilbook.com/guestbook.php?batangsanmateoEnvironmentalists Cite Risks in Rizal TownBy DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:15:00 04/27/2009MANILA, Philippines -- Environmentalists have warned that the continuing exploitation of the natural resources in San Mateo town, Rizal province, could lead to disasters and the risks were exacerbated by the town’s vulnerability to landslides and erosions.
In a statement, the People’s Response for the Protection of the Environment of San Mateo (Protect San Mateo) said the protected forests of the town and nearby municipalities would be in danger due to the operations of a contested sanitary landfill and ongoing real estate development projects in the area.
It noted that the town was “naturally vulnerable to landslides and erosions,” based on a study conducted by the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Geological Sciences, following the disaster that struck the Cherry Hills subdivision in nearby Antipolo City in August 1999.
Scores of people were killed while many others were reported missing when a landslide toppled several houses in Cherry Hills, which was built on a geologically risky area.
Protect San Mateo said that as early as 1997, a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Environment Impact Assessment Review Committee found out that 82 percent of a 677-hectare property in the town, which was the site of a real estate project, had “severe to very severe soil erosion.”
Despite this, the DENR gave the project developer an environmental compliance certificate, it added.
In a convention held last week in Banaba village, which was attended by around 500 residents, the group vowed to stop the exploitation of natural resources in San Mateo and neighboring towns.
At the same time, it urged the DENR to revoke the permit it had issued to San Mateo Sanitary Landfill Development Corp. (SMSLDC) which, the group said, had “committed crimes against the environment of San Mateo and the rest of Rizal.”
The SMSLDC is the operator of the contested landfill, which according to environmentalists, is located inside a forest production area and adjacent to a forest protected area.Source - newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090427-201574/Environmentalists-cite-risks-in-Rizal-townYung real estate na tinutukoy sa artikulo ay ang Timberland Heights na proyekto ng Filinvest Land Inc. |
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Post by hirolionheart on May 1, 2009 22:29:41 GMT 8
^^^ Punta naman tayo sa positive side of this story... Para balanse ;D Mas naunang balita nga lang ito dahil ngayon ko lang nahanap ang artikulong ito. Recycling hub key to metropolitan waste managementBy Gigi Muñoz David
Manila Standard Today
March 30, 2009 MondayWhat greenies oppose as a threat to the ecosystem is one option to save Metro Manila from environmental disaster through a safety-engineered waste recycling hub now operating in San Mateo, Rizal.
Mayor Jose Rafael Diaz told Standard Today that his town was hosting the first conveyorized material recovery facility that would also generate income and employment among other benefits without any collateral damage.
“The MRF will be constructed like a factory to accommodate around 2,500 sorters on three shifts per day,” he said, noting that the entire worksite would be enclosed in a warehouse-type of structure.
Lawyer Andy Santiago, president of the San Mateo Sanitary Landfill and Development Corp., said in practice, a household disposes 75 percent of domestic solid waste for pick up by garbage collectors.
“With the 75 percent, at least 60 percent can still be salvaged and only 15 percent residual waste goes to the landfill. Marami talaga ang matutulungan from the recyclables they will be getting [many would benefit from recycling],” Santiago said during a briefing at the site in Pintong Bukawe.
Diaz said activists criticizing the sanitary landfill were barking up the wrong tree because they referred to old records and San Mateo has since been rezoned.
Not a few open source users would agree that a google map could be edited and modified by placing markings and overlays that are largely unauthenticated.
Longtime resident Eddie Bancifra, of Barangay Maly, said his village had no dump as described by outsiders.
“Sa ibang lugar ’yun [It’s at another place],” he said, pointing to the direction of Pintong Bukawe.
A former village peace officer, Bancifra tends a vegetable patch and looks forward to livelihood out of the landfill, which Santiago describes as a model in solid waste management for local governments.
“We are making sure that the mistakes of Smokey Mountain and Payatas will not be repeated here,” he said.
Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila, got its name from the pile of garbage that in time grew into an oversized mound of festering refuse which scavengers colonized.
Payatas in neighboring Quezon City is still being used but more of a controled dump at present.
According to Santiago, the San Mateo landfill was conceived to make the surroundings fit for mixed-use development to cover residential, recreational and commercial purposes.
A first-term mayor, Diaz said this early he has been receiving inquiries on possible ventures from abroad.
“A group of 4x4 off-roaders are keen on opening a circuit here,” he said, noting that mountain bikers have been pedaling up and down San Mateo’s mountainous terrain outside the Marikina watershed and protected areas.
An environmental lawyer himself, Santiago said he agreed to lead the company only after he was fully convinced that all requirements under Republic Act 9003 have been met.
“We are in full compliance with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Program Act of 2001,” he said.
“Our own road is opening up opportunities,” Santiago added, citing private lot owners have started to develop their properties.
“Ripraps are being placed by experienced workers that handled projects on Kennon Road and Marcos Highway,” said Santiago, specifying that tree-planting would run parallel to construction.
At a nursery near the leachate pond, he showed mahogany seedlings bought by the company.
“The place would be ideal for an eco-park as well,” said Santiago, describing the landfill as a catalyst to attract long-term investments.
For Diaz, the protesters were blocking what the townsfolk regarded as a boon to the local economy.
“They want to sow fear. My family’s lineage goes back to pre-hispanic times,” he said, insisting that his forebears were native settlers and that he—more than the outsiders—had a vital stake in the locality.
Santiago said more than enough safeguards have been built into the system such as the leachate catchment for treating liquid gathering in the multi-layered landfill.
Diaz says he is on the right track along with the full backing of the Rizal capitol and the blessings of the Antipolo archdiocese to which San Mateo belongs.
“With these developments, we will be able to show to other localities that having a landfill is not a bad idea. In fact, we are positive that we will be able to attract more investors because garbage is not a problem in our town.”Source - www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=police2_mar30_2009 |
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