Church campaigns against 'life-threatening' landfill

CITY OF MALOLOS, PHILIPPINES(Scrap Monster): A bishop here issued a pastoral letter which slammed the proposed building of a sanitary landfill over a 100 hectare lot near Doña Remedios Trinidad town, saying the dumpsite “threatens to end life.”

Malolos Diocese Bishop Jose Oliveros warned of serious detriments on environment and life should the project continue to be built also near to the 800,000-strong San Jose Del Monte (SJDM) City, the most populous municipality in Bulacan. Oliveros said in the three-page letter that only four drops of leachate from the landfill could contaminate 20,000 gallons of water.

Leachate is the toxic liquid that moves through sewers from waste disposal sites and then permeates soil, hence polluting groundwater. The bishop said it is the responsibility of the diocese to be the “firm protector of life” and to “refute the powers which threaten to end it.” But according to Bruce Williams, operations manager of the company behind the proposed landfill construction, it has already been a norm that several institutions, with the Church included, lob the establishment of waste disposal sites.

“No landfill anywhere in the world has not encountered criticisms, including from religious groups. They always do that,” said Williams. According to SJDM Mayor Reynaldo San Pedro, city officials are actually on the process of deliberating the construction of a sanitary landfill to adjust to the necessities of the crowded city. “Paano natin iyon magagawa kung ni hindi natin makakayang pangasiwaan ang ating mga basura (How could we achieve a better city if we could not even manage to dispose our garbage properly),” said San Pedro. Oliveros meanwhile called for the vigilance of people as “dutiful caretakers of the creations of God.” He said the public could partake in the Church’s call for zero waste management through segregation and recycling of wastes. In the part of the provincial government, Governor Wilhelmino Alvarado has recently signed the new Bulacan Environment Code which sets provisions on proper authorization of constructing sanitary landfills in the province, as well as in mining and forestry. (Source: Philippine Information Agency)