MMDA seeks extension of landfill use contract
By DJ Yap, Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:17:00 05/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines – Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Bayani Fernando Monday said he would ask for a three-month extension of the contract which allowed the agency to dump Metro Manila’s garbage into the 19-hectare landfill in Rodriguez town, Rizal province.
Fernando said he was in constant communication with Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares III and was hopeful they could still reach an agreement despite the latter’s apparent reluctance to extend the contract.
Last October, Ynares, upon the request of the MMDA and Metro mayors, gave the agency until May 6 to use the landfill for the province’s exclusive use. The deadline was later extended to May 12.
Sought for comment Monday, Ynares said that it was not him, but the provincial board who would decide whether or not to grant the request.
In a statement through the provincial public information office, Ynares said his earlier decision to let the MMDA use the landfill was “magisterial.”
At press time, Rizal policemen were guarding the gates leading to the facility and turning away garbage trucks from Metro Manila.
Anthony Mateo of the provincial public information office said that so far, trucks from the cities of Makati, Pasay and Caloocan had been barred from entering the landfill.
An MMDA official, meanwhile, said they had already made preparations on where to take the garbage in case their request was turned down.
“We would like to assure the public that we have the situation under control,” said MMDA General Manager Robert Nacianceno.
The MMDA, he added, has started assigning local governments in Metro Manila to different landfills in the provinces like those in San Pedro, Laguna; Norzagaray, Bulacan and Clark in Pampanga.
“It’s just a matter of assigning which local government should go to which sanitary landfill,” Nacianceno said.
Metro Manila has been dumping an estimated daily average of 8,000 tons of garbage into the Rodriguez landfill.
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