Writ orders halt to waste dumping in Chico River

TABUK CITY—The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and officials of Mt. Province to stop the dumping of garbage along the Chico River in Bontoc town.

In a four-page resolution on Oct. 17, the appellate court’s fourth division issued a writ of kalikasan and a writ of continuing mandamus against the DENR, the town government of Bontoc in Mt. Province and the province’s governor to stop Bontoc from operating an open dump near the Chico River.

The writ of kalikasan is a legal remedy sought to address an environmental issue that affects at least two or more cities, towns or provinces. The writ of continuing mandamus, on the other hand, obliges a government agency or local government to act and resolve an environmental concern “until judgment is fully satisfied.”

The CA said the environmental lawsuit filed by the Kalinga Anti-Pollution Action Group (Kapag) to shut down the Bontoc dump in Barangay Caluttit was “sufficient in form and substance.”

Kapag, in its complaint, said the dump had contributed to pollution in the Chico River.

To bolster its allegations, the group submitted video footage of a local government dump truck unloading unsegregated garbage at the dump, as evidence that Bontoc and the provincial government had allegedly violated Republic Act No. 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) and RA 9275 (Clean Water Act of 2004).

Lawyer Errol Comafay, Kapag counsel, said the dump “could turn the river into a giant sewer.”

Kapag said the dump threatens agriculture in Kalinga and the Mallig plains of Isabela. It said the dump also threatens Kalinga’s tourism projects.