SC orders Baguio govt to stop using Irisan landfill

January 29, 2012 5:12pm

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Tags: Baguio City , Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has issued a writ of kalikasan — a temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) — enjoining the city government of Baguio

from further degrading a major river system by continuing to dump waste in an old dumpsite.

The continuous use of the 30-year-old Irisan landfill was blamed for the garbage spill during the onslaught of typhoon “Mina” in September last year.

The incident prompted Benguet Rep. Ronald Cosalan and 15 other persons to file a petition seeking the issuance of a TEPO stopping the city

government from still using the Irisan landfill.

“You, respondents, your agents, representatives, or persons acting in your place or stead are hereby ordered, effective immediately, and until further

orders from this Court, to cease and desist from making use of the Irisan dumpsite either as a temporary holding/staging area or as a dumping or

controlled area for any and all kinds of solid waste,” the high court said in a four-page en banc resolution.

The SC further directed the respondents to make a verified return of the writ within a period of 10 days before the Court of Appeals, as provided under

the Court’s Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases.

A writ of Kalikasan is issued to avail for the citizens the power to assert their rights for a better ecology. All magistrates concurred with the ruling,

except for Associate Justice Arturo Brion, who was on official leave.

The petitioners, which also included provincial board members of Benguet and La Union, and national artist Benedicto “Bencab” Cabrera, were

represented in court by lawyer Pablito Sanidad.

Records showed that due to the severe degradation of the environment with the continuing disposal of solid wastes in Irisan dumpsite, the garbage

spilled over to the nearby Kagaling River, affecting hundreds of families and contaminating other waterway system in nearby provinces like Benguet

and La Union, leaving them with no safe water to drink. — KBK, GMA News