The environment department blamed heavy rains for the massive erosion of soil and garbage at the dumpsite in Rodriguez town, Rizal, last month. But environmentalists and scientists are not buying the explanation and have warned of future disasters.

By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — The heavy rains that poured over Metro Manila and nearby areas recently have been blamed for the landslide in the dumpsite in Rodriguez, Rizal, over a month ago. But environmentalists, engineers and geologists are convinced that it was caused mainly by mismanagement and faulty design.

The landslide could have been prevented if only the International Solid Waste Management Specialist (iSWIMS), the operator of the dumpsite, was equipped with safety facilities, according to the environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE).

A wall of the Rizal Provincial Sanitary Landfill collapsed last July 29. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigated and blamed the heavy rains that had softened a portion of the soil that eventually collapsed. Based on the DENR’s report, about 2,000 square meters of land and garbage were eroded.

The debris blocked the Lukutan Munti creek, a creek connected to the Marikina River and eventually to the Laguna de Bay. Three of the more than 30 shanties in the area were buried.

But Catherine Abon, a geologist and a member of the activist scientist group Agham, said her estimate of the total landslide debris is 100,000 cubic meters, or equivalent to as many as 10,000 dump trucks of debris. “The garbage or landslide debris was composed of unconsolidated soil and solid wastes, mainly plastic materials and was dumped on a steep slope,” she said at a press conference last week.

“Based on the evidence we have, there are no sufficient and proper engineering technique and slope protection structures that could have prevented the landslide. In the absence of these structures and if another extreme rainfall occurs, there is a likelihood that another landslide could happen in the area,” she said.

Abon approximates that the steep slope was more than 50 degrees. “The higher the slope, the more it is prone to erosion or landslides,” she said.

Environmental and Sanitary Engineer Darrow Lucenario said that the dumpsites in Rodriguez and San Mateo towns, which are officially called landfills, are “fake landfills.”

“Heavy rains should not be blamed because whenever an engineer designs a sanitary landfill, she or he would design it taking into consideration that there would be heavy rains from time to time,” he said.

Lucenario added that if only there was a retaining wall, the soil and garbage could have been prevented from seeping into the water system. He said the dumpsite operator had been very negligent in their treatment of the dumpsite’s leach. “It has no leachate treatment facilities and disaster preventive pond needed for the prevention, control and abatement of highly toxic garbage liquid that pollutes the surrounding water sources,” Lucenario said.

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