“NGAYON PA lang po ay sinasabi ko na sa inyo, tumututol po kami.”
Vehement was Capas, Tarlac Mayor Roseller “Boots” Rodriguez in declaring his people’s resistance to the waste-to-energy project the Bases Conversion and Development Authority is impacting in Barangay O’Donnell: the constituency’s opposition officially embodied in the Capas sangguniang bayan resolution passed at the committee of the whole hearing on Feb. 18.
The hearing itself was prompted by an urgent “manifesto of concern” of O’Donnell barangay chair Wendell Mercado over the BCDA “water and dump site project.”
“Para na itong pambabastos sa LGU,” noted Vice Mayor Alex Espinosa of the BCDA equipment already on site without any prior coordination with the barangay or the local government.
Rodriguez himself took the BCDA to task for its apparent consultative deficiency. “Ang sinasabi naman po sa Local Government Code, it’s clear, whatever the project of the national agency, that will affect the environment and the community, that there should be a prior consultation.”
“What you told us before, it’s not a prior consultation. Inabisuhan niyo po kami noon na itatayo na. So, it’s not a consultation,” the mayor told BCDA representatives during the hearing, referencing to a previous BCDA visit to his office where he was presented with printed Google maps of the site that did not show nearby houses and barangays, and was told they would first secure the barangay chairman’s approval before returning for further discussions.
Apparently, the BCDA reneged on its word as Barangay O’Donnel chair Mercado told the hearing that BCDA personnel have been conducting activities in the area almost weekly despite his calls for suspension pending discussion: “Ang sabi ko nga po sa kanila na huwag munang magde-draining, pag-usapan muna namin pero patuloy pa rin po yung pagde-draining nila, napakakulit po nila.”
Mayor Rodriguez has officially requested BCDA to remove all equipment from the site and halt all activities there to ease the fears of residents.
No permit?
Citing the need for the residents’ acceptance of the project, a representative of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-CENRO Capas disclosed that they have not issued any permit to BCDA for the project, reported the online publication Tarlakenyo.
“Sa part naman po ng DENR, once na meron po silang social acceptability, doon na po kami papasok,” the representative was quoted as saying. “Pero ang unang-una po yung social acceptability of the residents, ‘yun po muna ang ating kukunin.”
To which, the sangguniang bayan reacted that absent compliance with the DENR requirements mandated by RA 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act), “the project is illegal.”
“Napakaliwanag na di porke’t pare-parehas na nasa gobyerno, ay hindi na tayo susunod sa mga kakailanganing dokumento na hihingiin ng batas. Sana ay mag-comply po kayo,” one councilor noted.
BCDA inconsistency
Capas municipal environment and natural resources officer Gener Tanhueco raised what he said were inconsistencies in BCDA planning, recalling that at the March 2023 anniversary celebration of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp., BCDA officials were present when the then-Kalangitan sanitary landfill operator announced they would construct a waste-to-energy project in their area.
“So, how come, after two…three years, biglang pinasara ang Metro Clark? Hindi kinonsider ang waste-to-energy na pino-propose nila. Tapos biglang-bigla, yun nga magtatayo [ng waste-to-energy project] sa Barangay O’Donnell?” asked Tanhueco.
MCWMC’s operation of the Kalangitan landfill ended in 2024 after a contentious legal battle with the BCDA, maintaining that “a sanitary landfill is no longer consistent with the government’s vision of transforming New Clark City into a premier investment and tourism destination.”
While Mayor Rodriguez conceded that the community had already accepted the closure of the sanitary landfill, concerns persist over its long-term impact on the environment.
Asking the BCDA thus: “Ang tanong po namin sa ngayon, doon po ba sa Kalangitan landfill nakapag-submit na po ba or meron na po ba kayong closure plan sa landfill doon? Alam naman po natin na ang landfill kapag iniwan na, 30 years po ang hihintayin bago magiging maayos yung lupa.”
Like much of the queries from the sangguniang floor, Rodriguez’s went unanswered, the BCDA representative identified as one Fatima de Jesus apologizing for the absence of any technical personnel in their team, assuring the council that the concerns raised would be relayed to BCDA management, and requesting of another hearing.
Oblique response
On Feb. 23, five days after the Capas hearing, the BCDA posted on its FB page: WTE GAINS DENR SUPPORT, unleashing a torrent of PRs whitewashing, by happenstance if not by intention, the town’s opposition to the planned facility, to wit:
a) DENR Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla expressed support for the development of the country’s first large-scale waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in New Clark City.
b) A consultation was recently held among DENR, BCDA, the project consortium, and representatives from the academe to discuss the planned project, which is positioned primarily as a modern waste management solution to address growing solid waste challenges in the region.
c) BCDA president and CEO Joshia Bingcang emphasizing: “This project directly contributes to the national agenda of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. by strengthening environmental protection, supporting energy security, and introducing modern waste management systems. It demonstrates how infrastructure development can deliver long-term environmental and economic value for the country.”
Which, in effect, bared more contradictions and infirmities in the actions of the national government on the issue, to wit:
a) How can Lotilla support the WTE that his own people in Capas said did not have the reglementary social acceptability pursuant to the issuance of a permit?
b) A consultation was indeed held among the WTE proponents with the academe for obvious cosmetics, but not among the people of Capas, they who shall bear with the social and other costs of the planned facility, that which is mandated in the Local Government Code. This is discrimination, if not classism, of which BCDA is turning to be a master: think of the Aetas in NCC, the shareholders brouhaha in John Hay, and yes, the highhandedness in the case of the Kalangitan landfill.
c) While the WTE project may contribute to the national agenda of President Marcos, its pursuit by the BCDA is a total negation of the president’s express policy for government agencies to secure local government unit approval before implementing national government-funded projects, to wit:
“Dati, ang sistema, pagka may project sa isang lugar, halimbawa, mayor ako na may project ng DPWH o contractor doon sa lugar ko, magkokonsulta sa local government,” Marcos Jr. had said during the inspection of flood control projects in Tuba, Benguet in August last year. “Hindi lang, ‘pag malaki ang project, hini-hearing ‘yan from barangay to municipal to province. Walang ganoon. Walang ganoon na ginawa dito sa lahat na ito [flood control projects]. We are bringing that back because it was removed in the last administration. We are putting it back since it is one of the best safeguards we have.”
Is BCDA discarding that “best safeguard” in its pursuit of the P4-billion waste-to-water facility in Barangay O’Donnell, Capas, Tarlac?
That, ultimately, is the proverbial P400-million question, so to speak in the Filipino context, rising out of the Capas SB hearing.
(Sources: Sangguniang Bayan ng Capas FB Page, Tarlakenyo, BCDA Group FB Page)
