Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Vol. V,    No. 12      May 1- 7, 2005      Quezon City, Philippines

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Bulacan Fishers Seek Dump’s Closure

It has been three years since a barge coming from the coast of Manila Bay would pass by the shoreline communities of Obando, Bulacan leaving a trail of foul air and litter-strewn waters. Residents, who have waited long enough for government authorities to enforce an ordinance that would halt the barge’s operations, have decided to take things into their own hands to close the dump.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

OBANDO, Bulacan – In this coastal town 16 kms north of Manila where fishponds abound, the burst of kwitis (local fireworks) would usually shoo away birds that prey on bangus (milk fish) or tilapia fingerlings. But for a week now, fireworks were a signal for coastal residents to mass up for one single cause – to stop the garbage-bearing barges.

Coastal villagers have been protesting the dumping of wastes from Metro Manila for three years. Each day, at least two barges filled with garbage pass through the river on the way to the dump in nearby Navotas.

Loaded with at least 800 tons of mixed waste from the metropolis, each barge sets off from Pier 18 along the coast of Manila Bay and navigates through the Binuangan Strait before anchoring at an 11-ha dump, the Navotas Controlled Disposal Facility (NCDF), along the shores of Navotas, a town in northern Manila.

The Philippine Ecology System Corporation (Phileco) operates the dump.

From Manila Bay, two barangays (villages) are on both shorelines of the 50-meter wide Binuangan Strait – Barangay Salambaw and Barangay Binuangan. Based on government records, the two barangays have 10,000 residents most of them depending on the river for food and income.

BOAT BLOCKADE: Obando folk close ranks to stop the barge 
Photo by
Pokus Gitnang Luson

Rich source

One of the residents, Virgilio del Rosario, 48, of Salambaw, owns a panti (a fishnet made of nylon) posted in the middle of the river. He said that three years ago his daily catch consisted of at least three kilos of shrimps and another three kilos of alimasag (crab). Since the trash barge started passing by the river, he is able to catch only a kilo of each, sometimes even less or none at all.

Namatay na ang mga similya dahil sa polusyon” (The pollution [brought about by the garbage] has killed the fingerlings), he said. Worse, he said, the barge would sometimes pass through his panti and wreck it.

Residents of Binuangan have similar complaints. Antonio Rivera, 59, used to make a living by harvesting tahong (mussel) or talaba (oyster) from the riverside.

Dati, pag hanguan ng talaba o tahong, parang pyesta dito sa amin. Lahat kami kumikita” (It was like a fest here every time mussels or oysters are harvested. All of us were earning), he said.

But those days are gone since the waters were polluted by waste from industries in the neighboring towns of Meycauayan, Navotas and Velenzuela. The pollution, he said, has been aggravated by the Navotas dump that also emits toxic waste into the river.

Inaction

Ricardo de Armas, chairperson of the fisher folk group Pamalakaya-Bulakan (Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya) and a resident of Salambaw, assailed the local government for its inaction on the village folk’s clamor to stop the barge from passing by their communities and closing the dump.

On June 15 last year the Bulacan provincial council passed Municipal Ordinance No. 03 that prohibits the barge from passing by the Binuangan Strait. Apparently the ordinance remains on paper.

De Armas challenged local government officials to implement this order to protect the river and the people from the hazards to their livelihood and health.

In a statement on April 28, the Oppose Dumpsite (Obando People’s Alliance Against Dumpsite), accused the NCDF of failing to secure an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC). NCDF, the group also said, violates the Provincial Environmental Code (PEC) that prohibits “the dumping or disposal of solid waste into the sea and any body of water in Bulacan including shorelines and riverbanks.”

De Armas said they would keep their vigil along the river until government enforce the ordinances and punish the NCDF for polluting the waters of Obando and neighboring towns.

Harassment

The barangay residents’ protest, however, is being met reportedly with harassment and intimidation by the coast guard, the military and police. At around 5 p.m. on April 29, an army platoon arrived in Binuangan and occupied the village’s day care center for their temporary detachment. The boatman who brought them in told Bulatlat that the soldiers came from the neighboring town of Hagonoy.

Residents said the soldiers conducted house-to-house inspection looking for three leaders of the fisherfolks’ organization, the residents said.

In the morning of April 30, the platoon-size military unit was reinforced by 18 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Provincial Mobile Group (PMG) and 15 coast guard crew. They tried to break the picket line of about 1,500 residents from Binuangan and some neighboring villages along the river. The tension lasted for about 15 minutes. With reports from Pokus Gitnang Luzon / Bulatlat 

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© 2004 Bulatlat  Alipato Publications

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