DENR: Obando landfill ‘environmentally compliant’
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The still- unfinished 44- hectare sanitary landfill in Brgy. S Salambao,l b Ob Obando, dB Bulacanl complies with environmental standards, Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Environmental Management Bureau (DENR - EMB) Region III Director Lormelyn Claudio said.
“It possesses an engineered design, which led us to issue an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the project,” she told Manila Bulletin (MB). “It went through a review, [and] an investigation [not only] by the EMB, but also by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.”
Claudio made the statement after concerned residents of Obando, led by Maria Teresa Bondoc, assisted by Fr. Vergs Ramos, recently filed a petition to the Supreme Court to reverse the decision promulgated by the Court of Appeals (CA) in August last year that dismissed the group’s petition for the issuance of a Writ of Kalikasan against the project.p
TheT project, managed by Ecoshield DevelopmentDeve Corporation (EDC) and worth R600 million, has been installed with ith a high- density polyethylene, a methane recovery system, a leachate pond, and walls, Claudio said.
In response to EDC’s application for an ECC filed in December 2010, DENR dispatched a monitoring team, which included representatives from the concerned local government unit and government agencies, to the project site.
“There were consultations done with the stakeholders, from the barangay and municipal levels, up to the provincial level,” Claudio said. “They might have apprehensions on the location of the landfill, but they have said that technically- and engineering-wise, the project is acceptable.”
Claudio added that once completed, the project will be part of the Manila Bay conservation strategy, and help solve solid waste management problems. Only five hectares of the landfill is currently available for commercial use.
However, Bondoc said that the landfill will destroy the area’s ecology, compromising the residents’ right to healthy living.
“We residents will be directly affected by the landfill. We will be the ones to suffer from storm surges, floods, foul smells, and diseases,” she said.
She added that so far, the construction has displaced mangrove species in the area, depriving shrimps and crabs of their breeding grounds, affecting the townsfolk’s means of livelihood.
“Even if there’s no storm, Obando still regularly experiences flooding during high tide,” she said.
Dr. Carlos Primo David testified for the petitioners that as the town is a flat-lying area, the landfill’s toxic substances might contaminate adjacent bodies of water, and ultimately, Manila Bay.
“With the establishment of the [landfill], EDC complied with the requirements set forth under [Republic Act] 9003,” the CA decision, however, said, adding that the landfill has enough anti-contamination features.