arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Payatas death toll rises to 137
By Andrea H. Trinidad
and Cynthia D. Balana
A NEW storm yesterday brought heightened fears of another garbage avalanche at the Payatas dumpsite in Quezon City, as recovery teams plucked 12 more bodies from the stinking pool of filth left by Monday's massive trash slide, raising the death toll to 137.
''The problem is no longer limited to the landslide. We also now have floods,'' Quezon City Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. told reporters, as the water in a creek where scores of victims are believed to be submerged continued to rise.
The collapsed mountain of garbage that buried hundreds of shanties Monday morning blocked the creek, causing floods, according to the Quezon City Disaster Coordinating Council.
Rescue workers were scheduled to release water from the putrid creek yesterday afternoon, prompting Mathay to order the evacuation of about 500 families living nearby.
Mathay's problems got worse as the Integrated Bar of the Philippines said that the mayor and other local officials, as well as garbage contractors, could be held liable for the tragedy.
And congressmen filed a House resolution seeking an inquiry to determine the liability of the city government and agencies responsible for the administration and development of the dumpsite.
In Washington, US President Bill Clinton said in a statement that he was ''deeply saddened to learn of the lives lost and families devastated by the terrible incident that took place on the outskirts of Manila.''
He added: ''On behalf of the American people, I extend my deepest sympathies to all those who have suffered losses and injuries.'' In the district called the Promised Land (Lupang Pangako), no more tears fell from Rodito Camingawan's eyes as he waited at a basketball court serving as a temporary morgue for volunteers to bring in the body of his wife, their 7-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.
The former cook said his family had been preparing to evacuate early Monday because the water from a nearby creek was rising.
''I was looking for a neighbor to help us but when I returned everything was gone, everything was covered,'' he said. ''I'll wait until they stop digging, and if they stop before finding them, there's nothing more I can do.''
Elmo and his pigs
Other distraught relatives of the missing continued to wait at the dumpsite despite the steady downpour.
''My brother is still there. I will not leave here until they find him,'' said Peter Flores, whose brother Elmo was tending to his pigs when the landslide buried him.
Elmo left three young children aged five, three and two. Elmo's wife had died after giving birth to their youngest child.
''I don't know how I can fend for his very young children. I don't have a stable job,'' Peter sobbed.
Rescue teams have not found any survivors since Tuesday.
Additional casualties included Felomena Tomerio, Elizabeth Gino and her one-year-old son Joshua, Mary Anne Camengauan and Artermio Muñoz.
Seven bodies, including the corpse of a baby, were unidentified.
Around 150 to 160 people are believed to be still trapped under the mountain of garbage and officials said it would be a miracle if anyone were still alive.
Urban poor group Kadamay maintained that there could still be over 800 missing people.
Col. Jaime Canatoy, in charge of over 300 soldiers searching for bodies, lamented the dearth of official census figures. ''We don't know when to stop our operations,'' he said.
'It will get worse'
Red Cross spokesperson Tess Usapdin said the new tropical depression would complicate recovery efforts, warning, ''definitely, it will get worse.''
Weather forecasters said ''Gloring'' struck the eastern side of Luzon before dawn Thursday and was expected to move westward, skirting Metro Manila.
A one-hectare portion of the 30-hectare, 50-foot high dump collapsed on Monday after a pounding from typhoons ''Ditang'' and ''Edeng.''
Recovery efforts slowed to a crawl as the softened surface of the mountain of garbage made it dangerous for recovery teams to continue digging for more bodies.
''We have to slow down because the ground has become slippery. Also, because of the continuous rains, the water has risen that it is almost impossible for the backhoes to dig deeper,'' said Canatoy.
Rogelio Urranza, an official of the Metro Manila Development Authority, also warned that another ''garbage slide'' was likely.
''Because the garbage in Payatas is only piled up and not compacted like in landfills, the bottom of the dumpsite could remain soggy and loose and may collapse anytime during rains,'' Urranza told reporters at the weekly Holiday Inn Hotel media forum.
Ramon Paje, environment undersecretary for policy and technical services, said the methane gas produced by the rotting garbage could cause an explosion that could also send more tons of garbage crashing down.
New dumpsite project
Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr. announced that Malacañang's Economic Coordinating Council had recommended the temporary closure of the Payatas dumpsite.
But the closure brought other problems, with garbage remaining uncollected in certain districts of Metro Manila for as many as three days as garbage trucks no longer had a place to dump the refuse.
Government officials were discussing establishing a new dump, possibly in Bataan across Manila Bay. The trash would have to be towed across in barges.
Other locations being considered are Semirara Island in Antique; Magallanes, Cavite; Green Island, Navotas; San Marcelino, Zambales; Pagbilao, Quezon; and Pililia, Rizal.
The government has opened bidding for the construction of a new landfill and the awarding of the contract is expected to be made next month, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said.
The new P4-billion dumpsite project is being handled by the Metro Manila Solid Waste Management Committee (MMSWMC) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
Robert Aventajado, presidential adviser on flagship projects, heads the first agency.
Taking advantage
More problems also cropped up as the already overcrowded evacuation centers were swamped with more evacuees. People who were not actually victimized by the landslide and the flooding, according to Mathay, started to troop to the centers where free food is being distributed.
''They took advantage of the situation so they could avail of the relief goods,'' he said.
As of noon yesterday, the number of evacuees at the Lupang Pangako Elementary School stood at 1,768 people or 480 families.
Social workers had to impose stricter screening measures in admitting evacuees to the center.
First Lady Loi Ejercito visited the center yesterday and distributed around 1,000 bags of relief goods. Other civic organizations continued to donate goods, but social welfare and health workers said they needed more food, blankets, sleeping mats and medicine.
Who is liable?
Local government officials, garbage contractors and even owners of the property where the dumpsite lies could be held liable for the tragedy.
This was the conclusion of a joint study conducted by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines committee on human rights and due process and the Public Interest Law Center, lawyer Romeo Capulong said yesterday.
He said that the full findings of the study, to be released next week, would be used to file a class suit by the survivors of the avalanche against local officials and others who they blame for the deaths of their loved ones.
''Under the Civil Code, even if there is contributory negligence on the part of the victims, the local government units, local officials, garbage contractors and even owners of the property, can be held liable for the tragedy,'' Capulong told the INQUIRER in a phone interview.
He said the IBP and the PILC made the study after two associations affected by the tragedy, Sangkap and Samahang Tunay sa Lupang Pangako, sought their assistance in seeking justice.
Mathay and other local officials had called the residents ''hardheaded'' for refusing to leave the area despite ''several warnings.''
''It is wrong to blame the residents. The problem is not the refusal of the families to leave the area, but the manner by which the garbage dumpsite was supervised by local officials,'' Capulong said.
House resolution
At the House of Representatives, Rep. Etta Rosales said House Resolution No. 1625, authored by Rep. Dante Liban and co-sponsored by her and Rep. Nestor Ponce Jr., would seek to find measures to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.
''Someone is accountable and must pay for the crime, a crime that is daily committed against scavengers and derelicts of society,'' she said.
Rosales said the legislators would review such laws as the 1992 Urban Development Housing Act, the Local Government Code and the Civil Code.
The Urban Development Housing Act states that people who live in danger areas such as garbage dumps and along railroad tracks are covered by a provision on eviction or demolition.
On this basis alone, Rosales said, the Payatas residents should have been evacuated earlier.
Get tough
The Local Government Code also mandates local government units to ensure the health and safety of their constituents. Rosales pointed out that Quezon City Hall and its officials could be sued under Section 24 of the code.
Rosales said the tragedy could have been avoided if local officials had implemented an order of former President Fidel Ramos in 1995 to close and rehabilitate the Payatas dumpsite.
Three years later, President Estrada also ordered the closure of the dumpsite, creating a task force to oversee the job. The task force, headed by Jejomar Binay, chair of the Metro Manila Development Authority, produced no results.
''It is obvious that neither the MMDA nor the Quezon City government and the auxiliary line agencies were able to effect the closure of the dumpsite,'' Rosales said.
Quezon City Councilor Mike Planas said the city council had resolved to call a special session, probably on Monday, to extend financial assistance to victims of the tragedy. He said no specific amount was involved yet.
Mathay has said that the city plans to move about 300 families whose houses were destroyed to nearby Rizal.
For his part, Rep. Romeo Candazo of Marikina expressed concern over the uncollected garbage piling up on the streets of Metro Manila.
''It is high time that government got tougher on people who throw their garbage indiscriminately,'' Candazo said.

We call on you to financially support the relief efforts of the Council for Health and Development in Payatas. You can donate on account number 001-2571952-73 of the "Fonds Hilde Vanobberghen", Kazernestraat 68, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, with mention of "Philippines-emergency aid".