Cops accost 4 hauler trucks loaded with toxic wastes

MONTALBAN, Rizal — Four hauler trucks containing waste materials at the vicinity of Barangay Macabud here were accosted by Montalban policemen.

Montalban Police Chief P/Supt Rommel C. Estolano said the suspects failed to present any document to justify their presence in the area despite the existing municipal and provincial ordinances prohibiting the passage or entry of all tankers or garbage trucks containing toxic or hazardous wastes to Montalban, Rizal.

Arrested by police authorities are the four truck drivers and their eight helpers, respectively.

The suspects are from Bataan, Laguna, cities of Makati, Manila, Taguig and Caloocan.

A certain Jimmy Baltazar, a resident of Barangay Maly, San Mateo, Rizal, who is at large and considered an accessory to the crime, is being pursued by authorities.

Initial investigation showed that the truck haulers were carrying hazardous or toxic waste materials that originated from Tanduay Distillers, Ltd. plant based in Cabuyao, Laguna. The trucks’ destination was the sanitary landfill in Sitio Tiakod, San Mateo, Norzagaray, Bulacan.

But, a check with DENR officials, however, revealed that WACUMAN landfill in Norzagaray Bulacan has not been accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) since it has no capacity to treat hazardous/toxic waste materials which the hauler trucks have been found to contain based on SOCO PNP and DENR Region IV-A reports.

Earlier, Tanduay Distillers, Ltd. from which the toxic wastes originated, had been in hot water recently when Senate probers found it to be responsible for the recent fishkills in Laguna Lake supposedly caused by their chemical spill that drained into the lake. Tanduay has been ordered to undertake the immediate clean-up and rehabilitation operations in the area.

The incident, which was the second grave offense by the wine company, has alarmed environmentalists and government officials on the extent of similar means of wastes disposal by other violators.

With these incidents pointing to one source of toxic wastes, police and DENR probers are trying to determine the extent of this environmentally destructive means of wastes disposal by Tanduay Distillers, Ltd., both through the waterways into the lake and land transport to the landfill.

Appropriate charges for violating RA 9003 otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, RA 6969 or the Philippine Toxic Substance and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Act, the Clean Water Act and Municipal and Provincial Ordinances are being readied for filing in court.

Meanwhile, Rizal Gov. Jun Ynares, a former general manager of Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and assistant secretary of the DENR and a staunch environment protection advocate, praised the alertness of the Montalban police. –Jason Faustino, Daily Tribune