THE Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Monday started re-routing garbage trucks to alternative dump sites after Rodriguez, Rizal mayor Pedro Cuerpo made good his threat to bar garbage trucks from the 14-hectare Montalban sanitary landfill if they do not pay the hosting fee of P1,000 per truck.

The municipality of Rodriguez started implementing at 12 midnight yesterday what Cuerpo called the "pay-as-you-discharge pre-payment" policy regarding the use of the sanitary landfill.

MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno assured Metro residents that there will be no garbage crisis or a repeat of last year’s incident when garbage went uncollected in various parts of the metropolis when Cuerpo and Rizal governor Casimiro Ynares III clashed over the matter of who between them was entitled to the hosting fee.

MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando has reiterated that the agency will not disburse any hosting fee until the Makati regional trial court issues a ruling on its motion seeking clarification on which between Rizal province and Rodriguez town is the legal payee of the P5.5 million monthly hosting fee.

Rodriguez has not been paid since September 2007.

Nacianceno said there will be delays in garbage collection in the coming days but downplayed its impact. He said the garbage trucks could still use the sanitary landfills in San Pedro, Laguna, Clark in Pampanga, Tanza in Navotas, and Payatas which is used exclusively by Quezon City. Another site is the 18-hectare landfill at Doña Remedios Trinidad in Norzagaray, Bulacan which already has an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.

Makati’s Department of Environmental Services chief Danilo Villas criticized the MMDA and said the agency should have addressed this problem well in advance. He said Makati has re-routed its garbage trucks to San Pedro but there would a problem in the coming days if the Montalban problem is not resolved sooner since the Laguna facility is accepting only 33 trips per day.

He said Makati’s garbage trucks normally make 123 trips daily to dispose of 2,469 cubic meters of wastes.

The MMDA pays Rodriguez P5.5 million monthly for the use of the facility and Cuerpo said the fees constitute a large portion of the town’s annual budget which this year stood at P430 million. – Ashzel Hachero