CA stops LLDA seizure of reclaimed Taguig land

LAKE RESHAPED The reclaimed area in Barangay Calzada, Taguig City —file photo

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) to hand a 37-ha Taguig City property back to the control of a garbage-hauling firm, which earlier denied the agency’s allegation that the land was illegally reclaimed and packed with trash.

In an Aug. 29 resolution, the CA granted the plea of IPM Construction and Development Corp. to regain possession of the reclaimed lot, along with hundreds of heavy equipment, in Barangay Calzada, Taguig.

“Clearly, there is a pressing necessity for the issuance of an injunctive writ as IPM stands to suffer material and substantial injury from LLDA’s continuous deprivation of its right to use and possess the property and to have unimpeded access to all its equipment therein which adversely affects the conduct of its legitimate business operations,” the CA said.

The order stemmed from a case filed by the IPM asking the CA to end LLDA’s takeover.

In June, the agency also seized a neighboring 10-ha lot from another firm, Level Up Construction and Development Corp.

Backfill material

The agency alleged that the two garbage hauling contractors illegally reclaimed portions of the freshwater lake using garbage as backfill material.

In shutting down their operations, it also took control of IPM’s 161 dump trucks, 50 backhoes and bulldozers and four cranes; and Level Up’s 21 dump trucks and four mini-dump trucks.

In a statement, LLDA General Manager Jaime Medina expressed dismay over the CA ruling, saying the court allowed itself to be used to stop a government agency from enforcing environmental laws.

“The CA seemed to have issued the resolution hastily, and did not even discuss the merits of the arguments presented by the LLDA,” he said, noting that the court order came out just two days after it released its resolution.

SolGen to file MR

Lawyer Loren Martinez of the LLDA’s shoreland management office said the agency would comply with the order but that the Office of the Solicitor General would file a motion for reconsideration on behalf of the government.

She added that the CA ruling would not prevent the LLDA from further conducting water tests on the IPM compound.

IPM and Level Up are two of Metro Manila’s largest garbage collection firms and currently have trash-hauling contracts with various city governments.

In an interview, IPM lawyer Jade Autida Lapinig said the firm would conduct  an inventory of the heavy equipment once its officers regain access to the property.

“We have given our commitment that we will not be using the compound as (garbage) transfer station, just to show our respect for the LLDA as authority. We only want to regain access to our heavy equipment,” she said.