Clark body tells Tarlac landfill operator to vacate facility

CLOSURE In this photo from January, Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) personnel carefully lay protective covering over the expanded disposal area within its 100-hectare Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill in Capas, Tarlac. The Clark Development Corp. has directed MCWMC to vacate the facility after the 20-day court-issued TRO for its service contract that expired on Oct. 6 lapsed on Oct. 24. —MCWMC

MABALACAT CITY, PAMPANGA, Philippines — Clark Development Corp. (CDC) formally ordered Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) to halt its operations and vacate the 100-hectare Kalangitan sanitary landfill in Capas town, Tarlac.

In a statement issued on Monday, CDC said it had served MCWMC with a cease-and-desist order along with a demand letter instructing the company to peacefully turn over to the government-owned corporation the landfill site in the Cutcut II area of New Clark City in Capas.

According to CDC, MCWMC, which has been contesting the closure, has refused to accept the documents.

READ: Angeles court junks Tarlac landfill operator’s bid to extend contract

The contract allowing MCWMC to manage the facility for 25 years already expired on Oct. 6 but it was extended for 20 days based on a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a regional trial court (RTC), CDC said.

According to CDC, it had already honored the 20-day TRO from the Capas RTC, which expired on Oct. 24.

Citing its regulatory authority under Republic Act No. 7227 (the Bases Conversion Development Act of 1992), CDC reiterated that any operations beyond the contract’s expiration were unauthorized.

This recent communication reinforced previous notifications to MCWMC that its continued presence in New Clark City was unauthorized, CDC said.

Failed extension bid

CDC also referred to the Oct. 21 ruling from the Angeles City RTC, which dismissed MCWMC’s civil case against CDC and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA). CDC is a subsidiary of BCDA.

In that case, MCWMC sought a 25-year contract extension. But the court dismissed the suit “with prejudice” for lack of cause, prescription issues and intentional forum shopping as it also filed a similar case at the RTC in Capas.

As of Oct. 6, waste from the locators of Clark Freeport Zone, which used to be serviced by MCWMC, is now being managed by Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga, a waste segregation and recycling firm based in Porac town in Pampanga.

The nearly a hundred local government units in Central and Northern Luzon that previously send their trash to the Kalangitan sanitary landfill have also been either using the facility of Prime Waste Solutions Pampanga or have found other landfill sites.