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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Makati RTC blinks on landfill issue

The Court admits having overlooked that Rodriguez, Rizal is outside its jurisdiction

By James Konstantin Galvez and Francis Earl Cueto, Reporters

THE Makati Regional Trial Court reversed its earlier preliminary injunction order that barred both the Rizal provincial government and the Rodriguez municipal government from taking action against the Metro Manila Development Authority from dumping garbage at the 14-hectare Rodriguez sanitary landfill.

In a two-page order of Makati RTC Branch 133 Judge Napoleon Inuturan, he also ordered the return of the P30,000 injunction bond posted earlier by the MMDA.

“Wherefore, the Order dated December 21, 2007 is hereby set aside insofar as it directs the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction. The injunction bond is hereby ordered released in favor of the plaintiff,” Inuturan’s two-page order said.

In December last year, Judge Inuturan issued a preliminary injunction against the Rizal govern­ment and the municipality of Rodriguez which prohibits them from taking actions against the dumping of the MMDA at the landfill, citing great inconvenience and danger to public health, especially if the landfill was closed.

The MMDA, in its reply, said that Rod­riguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo has im­pounded several dump trucks ferrying garbage to the landfill as he asked the court to cite him for contempt.

Cuerpo for his part, said the MMDA threat has no legal basis adding that the municipality is not covered by the injunction order since it does not fall within its jurisdiction.

“A prohibitive injunction like the one the Makati regional trial court has issued can only be enforced within the territorial jurisdiction of the issuing court in the case of the National Capital Region,” said Cuerpo.

The mayor also said the munici­pality did not receive any notice to attend the hearing on the preliminary injunction.

In reversing his earlier ruling, Intu­ran concurred with the opinion of Cuer­po over the jurisdiction of the case.

“Upon review of the case, the Court found that it overlooked the fact that Rodriguez, Rizal where the writ was to be implemented is outside the National Capital Region, and therefore, can not be enforced thereat by it,” the court said.

Meanwhile, the MMDA assured residents of Metro Manila the latest court ruling would not result in a garbage crisis even as it said they are prepared to slug it out in the legal arena if the provincial government pressed on and enforces the order.

“Right now we have not received reports that the trucks are being prev­ented from going to the site. Opera­tions remain smooth,” said Lawyer Em­ma­nuel de Castro, MMDA chief legal counsel.

He added that the recent court order has been rendered “moot and academic” as garbage trucks are still allowed to use the disputed landfill.

But if the provincial government decides to enforce the court order and bar them from the landfill, de Castro said they have no option but to im­mediately seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) from the Makati court.

The 14-hectare landfill is used by the MMDA as the main landfill for the more than 22,000 cubic meters of gar­bage that the metropolis generates on a daily basis. Another landfill, located in Navotas, is used as a secondary facility.

The MMDA pays the Rodriguez municipal government P150,000 per ton or P42.86 per cubic meter that it delivers and dumps at the Montalban sanitary landfill under an agreement signed in 2001 by then-MMDA chairman Benjamin Abalos and the local government.

After several extensions of the duration of the agreement which finally expired in August, the landfill became used up and was formally declared closed for garbage-dumping purposes.

However, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando had formally requested Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares 3rd to allow the MMDA to use the 14-hectare Rizal provincial landfill for at least six months. Ynares acceded to Fernando’s request on the strength of a Rizal provincial council resolution.

In November, however, both the Rizal provincial and Rodriguez municipal governments presented conflicting claims and demanded separate payments from the MMDA for the use of the provin­cial landfill prompting the agency to go to court to resolve the issue.