DENR pressed to close all open dumps

ENVIRONMENTAL groups on Tuesday reiterated their call for the closure of dumps, disguised as “sanitary landfills,” that allegedly pose health risks to people, especially children, living in nearby communities, and are appealing to Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje and concerned local officials to step in.

In a statement, the Bangon Kalikasan Movement, Green Convergence and EcoWaste Coalition identified these dumps as the Waste Custodial Management (Wacuman) Sanitary Landfill and the VGP Engineered Sanitary Landfill in barangay San Isidro and Newtown Development Area, barangay Minuyan Proper—both in the city of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan; and the Payatas Sanitary Landfill in Quezon City.

Joey Papa of Bangon Kalikasan Movement, a member of Green Convergence, said respiratory diseases in children such as cough, colds and asthma, as well as diarrhea and skin diseases, had reportedly risen among residents of communities near the sites.

Papa and members of Green Convergence and residents of Barangays Paradise III, Minuyan and Citrus—an affected area near barangay Minuyan, and Payatas, Quezon City—met recently with Secretary Paje to seek the immediate closure of the three dumps.

Mothers and their children and a barangay health worker affected by the VGP and Payatas dumps complained that dumps have affected their health.

One child from Payatas told Paje he and his playmates are getting sick of asthma because of the foul odor. “Nahihirapan po kaming huminga [We have difficulty breathing],” he added.

Those living near Minuyan, Citrus and Paradise III just below barangay San Isidro, where the Wacuman dump is located, had similar complaints.

“Warm weather followed by a sudden rainfall intensifies the foul odor emitted from the dumps, making it more toxic and causing greater affliction among the residents and compromising their health. Also, the Santo Cristo River near the dump could be contaminated due to potential release of leachate, ” the residents added.

“We urge San Jose del Monte City Mayor Reynaldo San Pedro and Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista to immediately order the closure of the dumps and to set up the ecology center system starting with waste prevention, reduction, segregation in the households together with recycling and composting with the help of the barangay. A model of this system is within Bulacan itself, in the municipality of Calumpit,” said Papa.

San Pedro and Bautista, as local government officials, should lead by example by implementing the essence of Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management, especially now that our country is in the midst of intensifying crises in the environment, Papa added.

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Green groups laud Romblon’s mining ban

Environmental groups welcomed Romblon’s declaration of an indefinite moratorium on metallic mining in the province, calling the move a milestone for the province’s ecological protection and conservation.

“Romblon is a province composed of islands which are endowed with rich natural resources and biodiversity and this issuance will definitely be one of the milestones for its protection and conservation,” said Alyansa Tigil Mina national coordinator Jaybee Garganera.

“Mining as we know is a disputed economic activity that not only paves way for the destruction of the islands, but also puts the inhabitants of the islands at risk in the face of disasters such as floods and landslides,” he said.

Governor Eduardo Firmalo signed Monday Executive Order No. 1, imposing an indefinite ban on metallic mining in Romblon. The order was issued after a series of consultation on the impacts of mining activities on the environment and the people’s health.

“This action is to the best interest of the greater number of our people. I strongly believe that the present and future health and ecological wellbeing of our people are more important to secure rather than the momentary economic benefits derived from mining operations,” Fimalo said.

Blas Tabaranza, chief operating officer of Haribon Foundation said, said Romblon hosts three of the most important biodiversity areas in the country.

“Biodiversity in the Romblon province is so rich that all its three islands host important biodiversity areas: the entire Romblon island, Balogo Watershed in Tablas island, and Mt. Guiting-guiting Natural Park in Sibuyan island,” Tabaranza said.

“Subspecies of the colasisi or Philippine hanging parrot, the Philippine pygmy-woodpecker, and the orange-bellied flowerpecker, plus five mammals and 54 plants, are endemic or can only be found in Sibuyan, which has often been called the Galapagos of Asia,” Tabaranza said.

“The province's moratorium on metallic mining is a welcome measure to protect not only its people's unique treasure but also their very future,” he said.

Romblon is one of the provinces in the country that issued a moratorium on large-scale mining. The other provinces include the provinces of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, and Samar.

“We continue to support Gov. Firmalo and local executives and councils who asserts their local autonomy in fighting the mining industry which this government continues to revitalize and strengthen,” Garganera said.

In September last year, municipal councils from the towns of Magdiwang, Cajidiocan and San Fernando in Sibuyan Island signed joint memoranda prohibiting and opposing mining exploration and activities there. Meanwhile, the Barangay Council of Pato-o in the Municipality of Odiongan on Tablas Island also issued a resolution opposing mining.

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Sierra Madre natives skeptic about Aquino’s log-ban pronouncement

Mountain natives of the Sierra Mountain range are skeptic about President Aquino’s pronouncement on the imposition of a ban on logging, claiming that illegal logging continues to threaten the vast mountain range.

Ramcy Astoveza, a leader of the Agta/Dumagat tribe and executive director of the Tribal Center for Development Foundation Inc., recalled that after the 2004 killer floods and landslides in northern Quezon, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a logging moratorium in the Sierra Madre and other parts of the country.

“But the real intention to save the forest from further destruction miserably failed because of insincere implementation of the log ban. As a matter of fact, illegal logging never stops and continues to rape our natural habitat up to the present,” Astoveza said on the phone Saturday morning.

Astoveza said his tribe was saddened because despite its earnest effort to support Arroyo’s total log ban, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources did not seriously implement it.

He noted that almost all past presidents of the country had declared different forms of log bans.

“But all of them failed. They all blew their chances to really save our forest. Now, here comes another one from President Aquino. Truth is, we are not optimistic that another log ban would really solve the problem of continued forest rape,” the tribal leader said.

On Friday, President Aquino announced that he was considering imposing a total log ban throughout the country as a long-term measure to prevent floods and other forms of calamities resulting from continued environmental destruction after he made a quick survey of flood-stricken provinces in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Father Pete Montallana, OFM, chairman of the Save Sierra Madre Network, claimed that illegal logging operations continued in Sierra Madre in Aurora province and northern part of Quezon and blamed corruption in the DENR for these.

In an open letter to President Aquino dated January 13, Montallana cited documented cases of illegal logging allegedly in cahoots with corrupt DENR personnel in Aurora and Quezon.

“Environmentalists have welcomed your administration with much hope that things would finally change at the DENR. But as far as the destruction of the forests in the Sierra Madre is concerned, it has been business as usual,” the activist priest said.

Montallana charged that the public has been deceived by the rhetoric of DENR press releases on its anti-corruption campaigns and claimed log confiscations.

“These may be good but DENR has not really addressed the corruption inside itself. If only there was a big camera in the Sierra Madre, then the whole country would know the real score regarding the destruction of the forests. The big question is this: Can DENR heal itself?” the priest said.

Bishop Rolando Tria Tirona, head of the Prelature of Infanta, also blamed corrupt DENR personnel for the continued destruction of the Sierra Madre.

Tirona called on the government to “wage an all-out war, not words only” against illegal loggers and miners in Sierra Madre.

Three DENR Quezon chiefs have been sacked due to failure to stop illegal logging in the Sierra Madre. One of the sacked environment officials, Emrich Borja, managed to return to his old post last year.

Citing their long years of experience as forest watchdog, Montallana told Aquino that the situation remains the same in the Sierra Madre under his administration.

Montallana posted photos of fresh illegally cut logs floating on the Umiray River in General Nakar, Quezon, in his Facebook page.

He said he received information from a concerned environmentalist on the presence of the floating logs suspected to have been illegally cut in the Sierra Madre in transit to Mauban, Quezon, a known transshipment point of hot logs.

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Garbage station haulers sa Marikina binakbakan ng environment watchdog

Binatikos kahapon ng environment watchdog na Citizens’ Organization Concerned with Advocating Philippine Environmental Sustainability (COCAP) ang umano’y patuloy na paggamit ng Marikina City ng waste transfer station sa pamamagitan ng mga waste hauling contractors gayung nasa gitna ito ng malaking populasyon at hindi naisasaalang-alang ang kalusugan at pinsalang hatid sa mga residente at basurerong nangangalap ng maibebentang mga basura.

Ang pagbatikos ay bunsod ng pagbuhos ng reklamo ng mga residenteng malapit sa Dona Petra Compound sa Barangay Concepcion, na ayon kay COCAP president Rene D. Pineda, Jr. , ang site na ginawa umanong illegal dumping ay ipinasara ng national government ilang taon na ang nakakaraan pero na-convert pang waste transfer station ng lungsod.

Sa reklamo ng mga residenteng naninirahan malapit sa transfer station, sinasabing dalawang garbage haulers umano, ang Metrowaste Solid Waste Management, Inc. (Metrowaste) at International Solid Waste Integrated Management Specialist, Inc. (Int’l SWIMS) ang nag-o-operate sa nasabing lugar.

Giniit ni Pineda na siya ring pangulo ng Partnership for Clean Air (PCA); member ng executive committee of the Metro Manila Airshed Governing Board at steering committee member ng Ecowaste Coalition, na atasan ni Mayor Del de Guzman ang dalawang garbage haulers na iprisinta ang kinakailangang accreditation ng ilang ahensya ng gobyerno upang makasiguro na ang lungsod ay tumutugon sa ipinaiiral na batas.

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