EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Thursday forwarded the
appeal of Rodriguez mayor Pedro Cuerpo for Malacaņang to intervene in his
dispute over garbage tipping fees with the Rizal provincial government to the
Department of Interior and Local Government for proper action.
Ermita said he told Cuerpo who visited him yesterday morning
that proper procedures should be observed and the request which he dropped off
at the office of Deputy Executive Secretary for legal affairs Manuel Gaite
Wednesday must go through the DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno first.
Ermita said Malacaņang would not act on Cuerpo's request
until they get a report and a recommendation from DILG. "It should be referred
to the DILG for his comment and recommendation because that is an exhaustion of
administrative remedy going all the way up to the President. I think his purpose
is to stay the execution of the suspension," Ermita said.
He said the Rizal provincial government and the private
garbage haulers involved in the complaint had been given five days to respond.
Cuerpo went to Malacaņang after Rizal governor Casimiro
Ynares III suspended him for 60 days for continuing to collect tipping fees from
MMDA's garbage haulers despite a provincial decision outlawing this.
At the MMDA, chairman Bayani Fernando shrugged off Cuerpo's
closure of the twin landfills in Rodriguez. "Walang dapat ipag-alala ang mga
residente sa Kalakhang Maynila dahil meron naman tayong ibang tapunan ng basura
aside sa Rodriguez," he said.
In shutting down the landfills, Cuerpo said hosting Metro
Manila's garbage gave them some elbow room in funding the development projects
of Rodriguez but it is now giving them more headaches with Ynares'
administration working at diverting the tipping fees away from the host-town. "Masakit
sa ulo at ang gusto ng iba kunin na lahat ng ibabayad ng mga haulers. Paano
naman ang mga residente ng Rodriguez na nagtitiis sa baho ng basura?" Cuerpo
said.
Fernando said the 18-hectare landfill in Doņa Remedios
Trinidad in Norzagaray, Bulacan is ready for use with an environmental
compliance certificate already secured from the DENR.
He said MMDA is also considering the facilities in Navotas, Laguna and
Pampanga as secondary landfills. The Navotas landfill is 11.3 hectares and good
for 15 years of operation. - Jocelyn Montemayor and Ashzel Hachero
