Rizal mayor suspended again over landfill issue

By Jason Faustino

10/25/2009

Rodriguez town, Rizal province Mayor Pedro Cuerpo has been suspended for a record fifth time after the municipal council slapped a fresh one against him in connection with the issue concerning the 19-hectare sanitary landfill in the province.

In reaction, Cuerpo cried “political harassment,” saying the latest suspension order issued against him by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Rizal had no basis.

He accused the provincial government, particularly Gov. Casimiro Ynares III, of harassing him in order to stop him from raising the issues of unsafe practices and loopholes in the implementation of security measures at the landfill.

“The suspension being imposed against me for the fifth time is nothing but harassment done by a group of politicians who are scared of the change I represent,” he asserted in a statement.

He vowed that no suspension orders would be able to stop him from exposing the “irregularities” committed by Ynares.

Cuerpo, who had just finished serving a suspension meted him last Aug. 23 by the town council, was again ordered suspended for another two months.

He said such a move is “tantamount to grave abuse of authority” by Ynares and other local government officials.

“The provincial government, led by Ynares, is abusing their powers and prerogatives by, again, disenfranchising the people of this province of their right to a leader they voted for,” Cuerpo said.

It was reported earlier that a methane explosion had caused a massive slope on the landfill that is now on the verge of collapsing.

At the same time, Cuerpo warned of an impending disaster due to huge quantities of water accumulating in the river basin below the waste disposal facility.

He said a big volume of refuse has clogged the waterways and is acting as a dam, which poses a very serious threat to the residents of lower areas.

“Thousands of tons of garbage covered the Lukutang Munti creek, creating an artificial dam of earth and garbage, Typhoon ‘Ondoy’ wreaked so much havoc in this community because of this negligence,” he said.

The fifth suspension, signed by acting Secretary to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Joseph Cenidoza and which was apparently due to Cuerpo’s commission of several violations of laws such as gross neglect of duty, dereliction of duty, unlawful behavior, misconduct in office and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, was served on him on Thursday.

The embattled mayor’s supporters are planning to picket the town hall tomorrow, to call for the his reinstatement.

Cuerpo and Ynares have had a long-standing feud over the control of the landfill in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban).

The mayor insists that the landfill, which is being utilized as a dump for all the garbage that is being churned out by the province and Metro Manila, should be operated by the municipal government and therefore the income it generates should rightfully belong to the municipal government. The governor refutes this and maintains that the provincial government is the one that should have control over the 14-hectare land and should be the one to receive fees for its use by the concerned local governments.

The Metro Manila Development Authority pays the municipal government of Rodriguez P150 per metric ton or P42.86 per cubic meter of garbage that it delivers and dumps at the sanitary landfill under an agreement signed in 2001 by then MMDA Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and the local government. The payments total P5.5 million every 15 days.

In February, Cuerpo threatened to close down the Rodriguez landfill if the MMDA failed to make payments for its use of the facility.

Aside from the Rodriguez landfill, which accommodates about 8,000 metric tons of refuse daily, the MMDA also uses a secondary landfill in Tanza, Navotas and in San Pedro, Laguna for the trash produced by the cities of Parañaque, Makati and San Juan. Plans are also afoot for the MMDA to use another facility at Clark in Pampanga.

Fueling Cuerpo and Ynares’ row is the report that Cuerpo is eyeing to wrest the gubernatorial post from Ynares via the local polls next year.

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