QUEZON CITY Mayor Herbert Bautista said the sanitary landfill in Payatas was managed well, and the city government must be allowed to manage a new waste dump. Bautista made the pitch in his opening statement during a meeting of city officials with officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Monday, August 7.
Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu met with city officials to discuss the impending shutdown of the Payatas landfill, which was ordered closed by the Metro Manila Development Authority on July 27, as heavy rains rendered the area soggy, and haulers had difficulty maneuvering their trucks.
Moreover, Payatas is near the La Mesa Dam, the only dam in the region that provides up to 90 percent of the drinking water for more than 12 million residents of Metro Manila.
Experts said Payatas should not have been established as a sanitary landfill, since it is near major subdivisions in Quezon City and nearby towns in Rizal, and it emits foul odor, particularly at night, prompting complaints from residents of Filinvest 2, Dilinvest 1, Sunny Side Heights Subdivision, North View, Villa Amor and other adjoining villages.
A series of mudslides and other accidents also killed scores of people in Payatas, many of whom were poor minors and adults scavenging for recyclable materials.
Nonetheless, these issues never bothered Bautista, who said: “I don’t know if they have made a comparative study of Payatas, Vitas [Tondo, Manila[ and Rodriguez, Rizal. But I think the Quezon City engineered sanitary-landfill facility was managed very well compared to the other two. Moving forward by next year, kung kami magtatapon na sa Vitas at Rodriguez, we are hoping we will also be able to manage Vitas and Rodriguez para hindi rin umapaw ang basura.”
Garbage-collection services in Quezon City continue round-the-clock despite the temporary closure of the Payatas landfill, Bautista added.
The Payatas dump is due for closure by year-end, but the Quezon City government has asked for its temporary reopening.
“Sinabi ni Mayor na kung puwede, we are appealing na kung hindi ipapare-open ang Payatas hanggang December 31, at least for the next two months buksan ito para makapagclean up at makapagprepare ang mga logistics namin for the closure. We’re looking at the December 31 deadline,” said Frederika Rentoy, chief of the Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department.
“We are preparing for the whole system like the refleeting kasi , marami tayong trucks na maliliit. These are designed sa mga narrow roads ng Quezon City. Ang dami nating narrow roads, and we have to do door-to-door collection. Kaya kailangan magrefleet into bigger truck, or add bigger trucks, para maging appropriate naman sila for the long haul sa Rodriguez, Rizal,” Rentoy added.
Quezon City has stopped dumping operations in Vitas because of turnaround-time issues.
“We tried Vitas, pero we stopped dumping at the Vitas marine loading station sa Pier 18. Unang-una, the turnaround time was very long, mga around eight hours, tapos ang queuing time is around three to five hours tapos kulang pa ang mga barges nila and, aside from that, it’s more expensive because may mga barging fees pa ‘dyan,” Rentoy said.