WRIT OF KALIKASAN VS CITY DUMPSITE

To close or not to close the controversial Inayawan landfill will now be up to the Court of Appeals (CA) to decide.

Making good on his promise to sue Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña over alleged violation of environmental laws due to the continued operation of the Inayawan landfill, Councilor Joel Garganera yesterday filed a petition for a writ of kalikasan before the CA to compel the city to stop using the 17-year-old dumpsite.

Garganera filed the 40-page petition on behalf of the people of the cities of Cebu and Talisay, as well as “the future generation, including the unborn” and named Osmeña as respondent along with William Cuñado, officer-in-charge of the Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7) and Emma Melana, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7).

The petition asked the CA to issue a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) alongside the writ of kalikasan to stop the “looming environmental catastrophe” that it said comes with the continued operation of the Inayawan landfill.

Osmeña, however, was unperturbed, saying the city will continue to use the landfill.

“If we go back to the Consolacion landfill, the city will spend up to P600 million a year. And somebody will make a lot of money on that illegal transaction. Not me. (former city mayor) Mike Rama did not have a closure plan on the Inayawan landfill, so it was never officially closed,” the mayor said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

Calls for the city to close the landfill were supported by recommendations from the EMB, which cited at least 13 violations in the city’s continued use of the facility, and from the Department of Health.

But Osmeña said the city is already solving the violations pointed out by the EMB, including those that were raised during the Rama administration.

“We have addressed most of the violations cited (during the term of) mayor Rama, and we are going to address the rest. That way, that the city’s money will not fall in the dirty hands of the Rama administration,” he said.

According to Garganera’s petition, prepared by lawyer Jasper Lucero, the operation of the dumpsite involves the dumping of unprocessed garbage into the area, which is in blatant violation of the laws governing solid waste management and will bring in irreversible damage to the residents living nearby.

In addition, Garganera pointed out that the continued operation of the landfill will destroy a thriving mangrove ecosystem, cause pollution to the environment, destroy the livelihood of coastal residents and decrease the economic benefits of the area due to the foul odor emanating from the dumpsite.

The petition noted that the Inayawan dumpsite was converted into a sanitary landfill in 1995 and started its operation on Sept. 11, 1998. By Sept. 11, 2005, however, the estimated useful life of the landfill ended. It was also identified as one of the areas within the city that had a high probability of being a breeding ground for dengue-carrying mosquitoes, prompting the city government to use portions of its calamity fund to have it rehabilitated.

It said several other initiatives to eliminate its foul odor, extend its economic life, reduce its waste management cost, remedy the hazards it brought, as well as continue its management, operation and maintenance were done by the city government over the years.

But on June 15, 2015, the Inayawan sanitary landfill was formally closed although the closure order was dated in January of that year. With the closure of the landfill, the waste disposal of the city, placed at 450 tons per day, was transferred to a private landfill in the northern Cebu town of Consolacion.

However , the Inayawan landfill was officially reopened last July, after the mayor raised allegations of irregularities over the payment scheme involved in the use of the Consolacion landfill. He also refused to pay the P32 million being collected from the city by the Asian Energy Systems Corp., which owns the Consolacion landfill, since the city government has no contract with the company.

The mayor has insisted that the Inayawan landfill, with proper management, is still useful even up to another decade, even as he assured City Hall is also looking for the best long-term solution to the city’s garbage disposal concerns. Garganera in his petition, however, said that the health, environmental and community safety risks posed by the landfill, as pointed out by DOH-7, should be reason enough to close the dumpsite.

Despite complaints and the DOH findings urging for its closure, Osmeña has been adamant on the continued operation of the Inayawan sanitary landfill and even threatened to dump the garbage at the doorsteps of those backing for its closure: the legislative building of Cebu City Hall, where the city councilors hold office; the South Road Properties (SRP), which adjoins the landfill site and home to many commercial establishments including restaurants and malls that have started to complain about the garbage stench; and the Malacañang sa Sugbo, where Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino holds office. Dino has earlier asked the DENR to investigate the landfill’s continued operation.

Follow the law

Garganera, in an interview, said he was left with no choice but to seek the court’s help since not even the DOH nor the DENR could compel the mayor to follow the law. Garganera said he attached in his petition the findings of the DENR, EMB and DOH, as well as the affidavits of the local officials and individuals affected by the issue from Barangay Inayawan and even Talisay City.

According to Garganera, he filed the suit because his constitutional right to a healthy environment as well as that of the future generations is “threatened and is actually being violated” by the acts of the mayor.

Anchoring his arguments on the Constitution, Garganera said it is the duty of the state to protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology, in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.

The councilor is asking for issuance of a 72-hour cease and desist Tepo against the continued operation of the dumpsite for violation of the environmental laws, which he asked the CA to be converted into a permanent order in case of favorable judgment. Garganera also asked the appeals court to order the respondents to undertake cleanup, restorative and rehabilitative activities of the dumpsite and to submit monthly or quarterly compliance report.

Delicadeza

Meanwhile, Cebu City Legal Officer Joseph Bernaldez said he will wait until he gets an official copy of the petition before issuing an official comment regarding the case.

“I can’t make a definitive comment because I don’t have a copy yet. I still have to receive a copy. But (sic) the time we receive it, we will study it and file a comment or answer,” he told CDN.

Although he said there is no prohibition for a city councilor to file a case against a city mayor, Bernaldez said Garganera should have at least exercised “delicadeza.”

“I can say that there’s a little question of delicadeza. In the first place, when you are a government employee and you are filing a case against another government official, it is my opinion that as much as possible, there should be an effort to have the matter discussed amicably,” Bernaldez told CDN.