By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
During the hearing on February 12, however, the Fourth Division prevailed on the two parties to accept the compromise of six months timetable for the closure of the ODS paving the way for the settlement of the case.
Some members of the KAPAG were not happy with the six-month extension given to Bontoc and more so with the provision in the agreement that the removal of the accumulated garbage in the ODS depends on technical studies to be conducted by the DENR and EMB. However, they eventually accepted the decision after Comafay said that the organization can conduct its own studies to bolster its claim that the non-removal of the garbage deposits in the dump site is an environmental hazard.
The KAPAG team which went to verify the information that Bontoc had closed its controversial dump site on September 7,2013 picked up former Tinglayan mayor Fernando Abay at the Sleeping Beauty Restaruant in Tinglayan which he owns. Abay had already worked with the KAPAG on the case specifically in the gathering of evidence. The damning video footage which showed a Bontoc LGU dump truck in the act of dumping in the Caluttit dumpsite was shot by his men and he also orchestrated the execution of testimonial evidence by barangay officials living along the Chico River. He was already fighting against the dump site since 1998 during his first term as mayor and he was happy to welcome KAPAG as allies when the group came into being in 2012.
Abay could not contain his happiness upon seeing the metal fence permanently closing the access to the Caluttit dump site gushing that finally, the efforts to convince Bontoc to terminate the controversial facility has been heeded after around two decades of being taken for granted.
Abay who as mayor of Tinglayan and board member of Kalinga was one of the leading oppositors of the ODS had recalled that the dumpsite started in late 60s when only cow-drawn carts were used to ferry the garbage. He was thankful to the Bontoc LGU for obeying the court ruling and expressed the hope residents and LGUs along the Chico River in Kalinga starting from Tinglayan to Tabuk City would now follow the example of Bontoc.
Dominador Tumbali who as Kalinga LGU Environmental and Natural Resources Officer was deeply involved in the protracted efforts to convince Bontoc into closing the ODS and stop dumping waste into the banks of the river and into the river itself since the term of Governor Macario Duguiang in 2001-2004 is happy Kalinga changed tacks. According to him, the policy of Duguiang and his successors was to solve diplomatically which the officials of Bontoc took advantage of.
“During our initial inspection, when we called their attention to the dumping of garbage on the banks of the river on the Samoki side, they said that they could not prevent tourists and locals from picnicking there. So we told them to use sacks to contain the garbage and they said yes but the dumping did not stop. They said yes to all our demands during the negotiations but during the next inspection, we would find the same situation. They say they are doing their best but actually no efforts are undertaken to stop the dumping,” Tumbali recalled.
Tumbali said that finally, in 2012, the leadership of the LGU started to rethink about its policy of diplomacy. That was after people of Tinglayan started to complain that the garbage being dumped by Bontoc into the river was responsible for the extinction of fishes in the river. The people in the town claimed that when they clean the little catch they make from the river, they would sometimes discover shreds of baby diapers and cotton in the bellies of the fish.
“They were hard-headed. They would say yes to our face but they do not touch the garbage when we are gone. It was good the Court of Appeals got into the picture,” Tumbali said.
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