By Perfecto T. Raymundo
MANILA, Sept. 7 (PNA) — The Supreme Court (SC) has issued a writ of kalikasan against the operation and widening of the Payatas Sanitary Landfill in Quezon City.
In a four-page resolution dated Sept. 1, 2015 and signed by SC en banc Clerk of Court Atty. Felipa B. Anama, the SC reversed its earlier decision that dismissed the petition of a homeowners’ association seeking to stop the operation of the Payatas Landfill.
Likewise, the SC granted the motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by the petitioners led by Leonita D. Panoy.
The SC also ordered the issuance of a “Writ of Kalikasan” against the respondents Quezon City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista; Engr. Vizminda Osorio of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB); National Solid Waste Management Commission Executive Director Eligio Ildefonso and four others.
It likewise ordered the Court of Appeals (CA) to accept the return of the writ and for hearing, receive the evidence and render judgment in the case.
The SC gave the respondents a “non-extendible” period of 10 days from notice within which to submit a “verified return of the writ of kalikasan”.
In their petition, the Alyansa ng mga Samahang Nagkakaisa sa Payatas argued that the operation of the Payatas landfill is violative of Republic Act No. 9003, or the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act”, as well as the “Clean Air Act”, “Clean Water Act” and the “Toxic Substances and Hazardous Nuclear Wastes Control Act”.
The SC declared last March that the petition was “insufficient in form and in substance” because the petitioners failed to present sufficient evidence to prove the alleged massive environmental damage to be brought about by the widening of the landfill. (PNA)