CALAMBA CITY, Philippines—At least 2,000 protesters, in white and green, marched around Ternate town in Cavite starting 7 a.m. Thursday to express opposition to the town council's resolution approving a sanitary landfill project within a portion of a protected area and buffer zone.

The protesters included residents, students, teachers, parents and nongovernment organizations.

Fr. Cedric Mendez and members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente joined the protest.

Ochie Tolentino, coordinator of the Cavite Green Coalition, said in a phone interview that majority of Ternate residents opposed the project that would be located inside the Mt. Palay-Palay/Mataas na Gulod National Park.

It will cover 10 hectares in the village of Sapang within the province's biggest protected area, which is teeming with unique biodiversity and wildlife.

Mt. Palay-Palay has been declared as a protected area by virtue of Proclamation 1594 in October 1976.

According to the Ecowaste Coalition, the park hosts at least 123 species of wildlife, 31 percent of which are endangered or threatened--including the Luzon Bleeding Heart, Philippine Falcon, Blue Naped Parrot and Philippine Woodland Frog.

Tolentino said the approval of the project violated Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the law prohibiting the setting up of landfills on an aquifer or watershed area.

She said the project, which got an environmental compliance certificate on September 26, 2007, would deprive the residents of Ternate and nearby towns of clean source of water.

She claimed that only six councilors held a session on September 4 and approved the project even without the vice-mayor and four councilors known to be staunch critics of the landfill project.

The resolution was approved by Mayor Conrado Lindo on September 8.

Ternate Vice Mayor Lamberto Bambao resisted the resolution and claimed that it did not go through due process.

Bambao, in a phone interview, said “no voting took place” since only the six municipal council members were present during the September 4 session and therefore “no quorum was reached.”

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to reach SB member Laurel Lindo, son of Mayor Lindo and who was one of the six members supporting the resolution but the person who took the call denied any relation to the issue and said he was not Lindo.

Tolentino added that her group and the Ternateños Against Landfill Association (Tala) have been studying charges against the pro-landfill councilors.

The Tala, a multisectoral group actively opposing the landfill project since 2006, said in a press statement that it was disappointed and outraged by the failure of the local leaders to uphold the will of the people.

Tala member Analiza Vallesfin said the local government “resorted immediately to landfills without first educating its people about solid waste management, (in reference to) the Republic Act 9003 (an act providing for an ecological solid waste management program).”

Vallesfin said their group has been planning to file a citizen suit against Lindo and the six municipal councilors.

The eight-hectare “sanitary” landfill proposed by the EnvironSave Inc. will be built in the village of Sapang I, a site identified by the Local Water Utilities Authority as part of the ground water basin area.

The landfill, if built, would cater to mixed wastes coming from different municipalities and cities of the province.

Residents fear that the landfill will contaminate their groundwater and pollute the environment.