MANILA, Philippines -- Garbage collection in Metro Manila will not be affected despite the reversal of an injunction that barred anyone from stopping trucks of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority from entering a landfill in Rodriguez, Rizal.

MMDA Chief Legal Counsel Emmanuel de Castro said on Tuesday that the decision of Judge Napoleon Inoturan of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 133 to set aside the writ of preliminary injunction due to a technicality would not make a difference in the agency's waste collection operation.

"Neither Rizal province nor the Rodriguez town is blocking our trucks from using the landfill so it doesn't matter," De Castro said in a phone interview.

In a January 11 order, Inoturan said he was setting aside the injunction he issued on December 21 upon reviewing the case.

"The Court found that it overlooked the fact that Rodriguez, Rizal, where the writ was to be implemented, is outside the National Capital Region," Inoturan said.

He added that the injunction could not be enforced under Sections 13 and 21 of Batas Pambansa 129 as amended.

The court also ordered the release of the P30,000 bond it earlier asked the MMDA to pay.

The MMDA went to court in 2007 after the officials of Rizal province and Rodriguez town, where the 19-hectare landfill is located, began quarreling over which of them had rightful ownership of the sanitary facility.

Inoturan later issued the preliminary injunction which directed the local officials not to bar the MMDA from the landfill.

De Castro, however, said that the question of who owned the 19-hectare landfill, had yet to be determined by the Makati court.

Until the court resolves the ownership question, the MMDA could not pay the P150 "social contribution funds" being claimed by both local governments, he added.

De Castro said he might file another pleading with the court depending on future developments. But he added that he had reason to believe the court ruling would have no ill effects on garbage collection in the metropolis.

De Castro said he doubted that Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo would start blocking MMDA trucks again with the junking of the injunction. "I don't think Cuerpo will do that," he said.

Based on MMDA data, Metro Manila generates about 22,000 cubic meters of solid waste, the bulk of which is dumped at the Rodriguez landfill, and for which the MMDA pays the town P150,000 per ton, or P42.86 per cubic meter.