CLARK FREEPORT — A writ of preliminary injunction has been issued by the Regional Trial Court in Capas, Tarlac staying the Clark Development Corp. from taking over the 100-hectare Kalangitan waste facility of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) in the same municipality.
The CDC security department tried to serve a cease and desist order (CDO) to the MCWMC on Oct. 25, a day after the 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against the CDC and Bases Conversion and Development Authority lapsed.
This, after the Angeles City Regional Trial Court on Oct. 21 dismissed with prejudice for lack of merit the case on Reformation of Instrument, Fixing of Period, Specific Performance and Damages filed by MCWMC against CDC and BCDA.
With this latest writ of preliminary injunction effectively stopping CDC and BCDA from taking over the waste facility and hampering its operations, MCWMC is expected to resume its operations on Oct. 30.
A long line of trucks carrying waste from some 150 local government units all over Central and Northern Luzon and some hospitals in Metro Manila had remained in front of the facility since Oct. 25 when the MCWMC temporarily stopped its operations.
The LGUs as far as Bulacan and private haulers had opted to wait for the MCWMC to reopen its doors, citing the high cost of taking their waste in the proposed alternatives sites of CDC and BCDA in Pampanga.
The five-page writ of preliminary injunction dated Oct. 29, 2024 penned by Presiding Judge Ronald Leo T. Haban of Capas RTC Branch 66 said: “It was established through the manifestations and testimonies of the parties that they are in ‘agreement’ (expressly and/or impliedly) that there can be no force, violence, threat, coercion, or intimidation but only legal means in imposing one’s will toward the other.”
“Yet, after the expiration of the Temporary Restraining Order herein, Plaintiffs submitted evidence attached to their Manifestation & Submission With Urgent Motion To Resolve, tending to show the aforementioned circumstance/s. The same cannot be condoned by the court,” noted the order.
Declaring: “Ours is still a court of law and not of men. In simple terms, the rule of law holds that laws (and not men) rule. This entails that no one is above the law and that the laws are intended to serve the public good rather than private interests.”
In issuing the writ of preliminary injunction, the writ further ordered: “Defendants Agnes VST Devanadera, Joshua “Jake” Bingcang, or any and all officers of defendant CDC and BCDA or any person acting under their orders or authority and Heads of CDC’s and BCDA’s security forces and their security personnel are enjoined from using force, violence, coercion, threat and/or intimidation in demanding to vacate/actually evicting.”
MCWMC statement
“We welcome this court action concerning our judicial recourse. For the past 25 years, our company have been painstakingly strived to deliver in earnest all our contractual obligations to the government and maintained extra ordinary services, not to mention additional capital investments in order for us to provide efficiency to hundreds of local government units including industrial and commercial clientele both in Central and Northern Luzon regions.
“We did not violate any environmental laws governing waste disposal nor have been re missed in our financial and service obligations to Clark Development Corp. for the past two decades.
“In spite of all these, we are being forced to cease our operational service and even vacate our leased facilities. We were left with no other options but to seek judicial intervention concerning our plight.
“We would like to re assure our valued clients including our stakeholders that we will continue to seek all available legal avenues as our faith in our country’s judicial system remains constant and We will immediately resume operations or as soon as we have put in place our operational systems for us to be able to once again efficiently serve our loyal customers and clienteles.”
The MCWM waste facility in Capas, Tarlac, is the only engineered sanitary landfill that has a daily capacity of 4,000 tons to 5,000 tons. It is serving some 150 local government units in Central and Northern Luzon, including hospitals in Metro Manila. Punto News Team
