Obando sanitary landfill operation is legal and safe, firm tells SC

MANILA, Philippines – The company Ecoshield Development Corporation (EDC) asks the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition filed against its sanitary landfill operation in Bulacan.

In a 71-page comment to the SC, the company claimed that its Obando Engineered Sanitary Landfill (EOSL) is legal and environmetally-safe, contrary to the petition by concerned residents of Obando, Bulacan that the company is not entitled to a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO).

“The proposed landfill project need not undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process [and] public consultations may be dispensed with, and in any event, were substantially complied with,” the company said in its comment.

EDC added that, contrary to the petitioners’ claim, “it is not inherent in a landfill to pose a serious environmental threat to two or more cities or provinces.”

“To be sure, no judicial notice of this sort exists. If the absurd theory of petitioner[s] is espoused, then all proposed landfills will have to be scrutinized by the Honorable Court, under the Writ of Kalikasan procedure,” the company said.

The petitioners brought the case to SC after the Court of Appeals ruled in 2014 twice in favor of EDC, saying that EOSL is even environmentally safer compared to other dumpsites in the country such as the Phileco Navotas landfill.

“Indeed, it is baseless, and unfair, for the petitioners to accuse the [CA] of failing to discuss how they were unable to substantiate their allegation of substantial environmental damage,” the company said.

EDC, led by businessman and former Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua and his son Edgard Cabangon, claims that they have installed state-of-the art” and “proven” technology to the landfill system to prevent any possible negative environmental impact.

They added that they’re committed to coordinate with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region 3 for the formation of the Multipartite Monitoring Team that will monitoring the sanitary landfill’s operation.

In February, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) claimed that the sanitary landfill complies with environmental standards.

The construction of the sanitary landfill was approved in 2011. – Rappler.com