Sports complex to cover up Taytay dumpsite begins construction in Dec.

by MAIQUI ROME FRANCIS M. STA. ANA
University of Santo Tomas Journalism program



TAYTAY, RIZAL—A PhP150 million sports complex, set to rise on top of this municipality’s dumpsite that’s near the Laguna Lake, will begin construction this December.
This is even if the complex, to set foot at a 12-ha. controlled disposal facility (CDF) in Brgy. Muzon, threatens to pollute the lake, according to some non-government organizations.
Municipal officials have said that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Rizal has already approved the construction project.
Councilor Chito Esguerra said the controlled disposal facility in Muzon “had already been rehabilitated. The area for the sports complex would be examined by engineers and should satisfy the requirements of engineering before the building is constructed.”
Other possible locations within Taytay have been considered for the sports complex, but it will cost a lot more money to acquire new land.
“I would prefer that the sports complex be constructed at the area of Ortigas in Brgy. San Isidro. But the problem is that it would cost Taytay a huge amount to buy, pay or acquire the lot which would cost another PhP150 million,” Esguerra added.
However, the dumpsite remains operational even if Memorandum-2008-432 issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources already notified the Taytay government to fix the problem,
A year after NGOs Greenpeace-Southeast Asia and EcoWaste Coalition barricaded the CDF, garbage trucks and trucks carrying soil were spotted entering the gates of the controlled dump.
Greenpeace and EcoWaste staged another barricade last August 28.
Taytay is among 931 local government units, including the city of Antipolo and the municipalities of San Mateo and Tanay, warned by DENR for operating open dumpsites and allegedly violating Section 37 of RA 9003.
According to Republic Act 9003 (or the Ecological and Solid Waste Management Act), an open dumpsite that was identified must be converted into a controlled disposal facility, which refers to a disposal site where solid waste is deposited in accordance with minimum prescribed operations of the said site.
Greenpeace-Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Ira Beau Baconguis wrote a letter to Taytay Mayor George Ricardo Gacula II last year saying that the CDF in Brgy. Muzon brings about hazardous health risks especially since it is near the Laguna Lake.
Greenpeace explained that mixed wastes already in the dump be left in the pit and simply covered with soil, as this would allow “the continuous leaching out of a toxic cocktail of chemicals into the water and release of dangerous gases from the dump”.
“That was the plan. We told them they have to excavate the waste. The dangers remain. The pollution will continue. Even a dumpsite should not be found anywhere near a body of water,” Baconguis said recently.
The Laguna Lake is also a major source of food and drinking water. Baconguis also added that reports from fishermen in some areas near the lake confirmed that the decrease in the number of fish catch per day is caused by the pollution of the lake.
Gacula, in his reply to the NGOs last year, pledged that the municipal government will adopt “stringent procedures” in closing the dumpsite.
The planned sports complex is part of the municipal government’s infrastructure projects that are planned to cover up the mountain of garbage.
Meanwhile, besides the sports complex, Taytay Councilor Archie Calderon bared that there are other projects proposed within the 12-hectare dumpsite, including a convention center, a high school, a municipal cemetery, and a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
Calderon said that the MRF will serve as a recycling facility for mixed solid wastes.
“The MRF is where all the garbage will be contained in a single facility and then grinded and turned into hollow blocks that can be used for other construction projects,” Calderon said in Filipino.
This first-class municipality that is home to 262,485 residents is found east of Pasig City (in Metro Manila) and north of Laguna Lake.
The Taytay and Panghulo rivers, as well as the Napindan Channel —all of whose waterways go to the Laguna Lake, are also found in the municipality.



Maiqui Rome Francis M. Sta. Ana, a third year Journalism student of UST, submitted this story for his Newspaper Practice and Management class.