Bulacan Fishers Hit Gov’t Inaction on Dump

Two weeks into their concerted actions to stop the passage of the garbage-bearing barge that passes through the Obando River, the fisherfolks of the coastal town of Obando now face a bigger problem – on how to force the government to clean up and close the dump.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

Residents of Obando, Bulacan, a coastal town 16 kms north of Manila, hit government inaction over their demands for the clean up and closure of the Navotas Controlled Disposal Facility (NCDF), a 10.9-ha dump in the shoreline of the neighboring town of Navotas. The NCDF is operated by the Philippine Ecological System Corporation (Phileco).

In a press conference in Quezon City May 4, fisherman Boy de Armas told reporters that despite evidences that the dump causes pollution in the Obando River, local and national government agencies concerned in waste disposal ignored their demand to close the NCDF.

In the same press conference, De Armas assailed Phileco for continuing to operate the waste facility despite its being illegal.

De Armas is the spokesperson of the fisher folk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Bulakan (Pamalakaya-Bulakan).

In a phone interview with Bulatlat, Obando Mayor Zoilito Santiago said he has sent letters of protest to the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Office of the President, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Bulacan provincial government to demand the same but his actions seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Santiago came out with a paid in Manila Standard on Sept. 27 last year stating the dump has caused “incalculable perils to the marine waters, environment, ecology and health of the people of Obando.”

Pollutant

As early as September 2003, the Fish Health Section of the BFAR recommended the closure of the facility. In its ocular inspection and conduct of water quality along the vicinity of Navotas dump on July 11 of the same year, BFAR said the disposal facility is polluting the river. The continued dumping of more waste in the area, the bureau also said, “could aggravate the deteriorating condition of the water environment.”

BFAR, which is under the agriculture department, warned that the river pollution – source of income and food for both Navotas and Obando fisherfolks – would soon result in a fish kill in the area. The dump facility, the bureau added, not only endangers the fish but also poses health hazards on the residents who consume the fishery resources taken from the river.

Curiously, in a newspaper report on Jan. 12 last year, the DENR “cleared” the waste facility against allegations that it is causing pollution into the coasts. The report said that based on water sampling operations conducted by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) in the National Capital Region (NCR) in July, October and December 2003, “there is no evidence to connect the presence of pollution in the river system to the NCDF.”

But Director Albert Magalang of the NSWMC, in a letter to Navotas resident Joseph Kwe on May 11, 2004, clarified that the Notice to Proceed (NTP) issued to the NCDF “should not be construed as a permit to operate” but is just a set of technical guide.

Further, Reynaldo Alances, chief of the Environmental Impact Assessment Division (EIAD) of the EMB, in a separate letter to Kwe said that his office “does not issue Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for these dumpsite facilities since they are not considered environmentally acceptable mode of waste disposal,” referring, particularly, to the dump’s location.

The NCDF is a former fishpond only 50 meters away from several fishponds of Obando and only about 200 meters away from the town’s residential areas. Without a DENR permit, it started its operations on Oct. 15, 2001.

Dare

Furious over the national government’s inaction on the dump issue despite strong opposition from residents of Obando and neighboring towns, Mayor Santiago challenged government officials and Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco to stay in their town for one month and see for themselves the effect of the dump on the daily lives of the residents.

“If they would not experience the risks brought about by the dump, then I would rest my case,” he said.

De Armas chided Tiangco for allegedly protecting the operators of the dump, saying that the government of Navotas earns about P60 million a month from Phileco for allowing the maintenance of the dump in their community.

Reached by phone, Tiangco refused to comment on the allegation. Bulatlat  

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