An environment group and local residents of two towns near Metro Manila are opposing the construction of two landfills, which, they claim, are both located in watershed or forest areas.

Environment group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) and local groups from San Mateo town in Rizal province and San Jose del Monte in Bulacan province told reporters in a forum Wednesday that the landfills constructed in these towns would pose risks to residents and to nearby watershed areas.

Fr. Anacleto Ignacio, one of the leaders of those who oppose the landfill in Barangay Minuyan Proper in San Jose del Monte, said the local government allowed the construction of the landfill despite the health risks it poses to the residents.

“We are saddened by the fact that there are government officials and businessmen who will risk the life of our people and destroy the environment for the sake of profit,” Ignacio said, adding that the landfill is in Barangay Minuyan Proper, which is also the site of the water treatment plant of the town.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, added that the San Jose del Monte landfill still does not have an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

Similarly, residents of Barangay Guinayang in San Mateo town in Rizal are calling for the closing of the landfill project in their area. Tony Balute, a local resident and member of Coalition for Garbage-Free San Mateo, said that aside from the dangers it pose to their health, there are anomalies surrounding how operators obtained the legal requirements.

The Coalition for a Garbage-Free San Mateo said that the initial phase of the landfill sits on a 19-hectare private property but can be expanded to 200 hectares or almost half of the 473-hectare protected forest area in barangays Guinayang and Maly.

The coalition said that San Mateo Landfill & Development Corp., the builder of the landfill, was able to secure an ECC in November last year but not on the actual site, barangays Guinayang and Maly. The coalition said the builder applied for ECC for a landfill in barangay Pintong Bukawe, where a previous attempt to put up a landfill was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2005 because it is within the Marikina Watershed Reservation.

Citing data from the National Solid Waste Management Commission, Bautista said the two landfills are among the 16 landfill sites in the country that are undergoing construction.

“As Metro Manila tries to resolve its perennial problem on garbage, more and more communities and environmentally critical areas outside the sprawling metropolis has been marked as dumping grounds for an estimated 8,000 tons of waste generated daily,” Bautista said.

“These so-called ‘sanitary landfills’ have various flaws and irregularities, which range from technical feasibility, environmental and health safety, to kickbacks and corruption,” he added. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

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