The proposal to burn Manila’s waste that is clogging the city’s drainage and create “renewable energy” to solve the dual problem of waste and flooding seems to be a nice idea.

But this marketing gimmick has failed to get the nod of 500 hundred of the communities affected by a P26 billion priority project of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, and Mayor Isko Moreno in Smokey Mountain, Tondo in Manila, who attended the Day of Action Against Incineration held on September 30.

Photo Credit: 350 Pilipinas | Ara Alejo.

The Manila Against Incinerator Alliance (MAIA) was inaugurated on that day with the aim of stopping the incinerator project. MAIA said the WTE project will only exacerbate pollution, inequities, and the climate crisis for the benefit of the elites in government and big companies.

Hundreds of urban poor residents, mostly wastepickers from Smokey Mountain, led by Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa Upper Smokey Mountain – KADAMAY, Samahan Para sa Maayos na Tahanan at Hanapbuhay (SMTH), and Samahan ng Nagkakaisa at Nagdadamayang Marala Organization (NANAMOR), have organized together to reject ongoing forcible eviction and reprisals from proponents of the WTE project.

Photo Credit: Manila Today.

Crowdrev. Photo Credit. GAIA Asia Pacific.

“It is easy to put the blame on our litter as the source of flooding, but behind this narrative is the issue of persistent neglect of the need for comprehensive and transformative solutions to flooding and waste problems and the consistent rejection of hearing the pleas of marginalized communities,” Niña Fegi, Coordinator of Panatang Luntian, said in her speech.

Ferdie Gaite, former Bayan Muna Congressman and COURAGE President, said that while WTE is being closed down in Europe, it is being pushed aggressively in the country. He pointed out that the only allowed is the utilization of real renewable sources like the sun and wind. Municipal waste is not renewable energy; however, WTE incineration is falsely categorized as biomass energy, and these projects go through because proponents disregard the legal bans on incineration, including conducting genuine consultation processes.

Leody de Guzman said the project should have been spent on mass housing of the urban poor in Smokey Mountain. “ They are not only stealing money from us, but they are also stealing clean air away from us.” He also said there is a risk for the country to import waste from other countries, which would cause Manila to be a dumping ground for other nations.

The proposed WTE project is going to be built in Brgy 128, Smokey Mountain, and propelled by a flooding control project worth $ 500 million. Financing was through a $415.2 million loan from the World Bank (WB) and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with a $84.8 million counterpart fund from the Philippines’ national budget. The project has been delayed for over a year, costing the government millions of taxes.

The WB and AIIB continue to finance the project despite identifying corruption, land ownership issues, and insufficient environmental and social assessments as early as November last year. The Banks dropped the WTE component of the flooding project, but the President continued to prioritize it and even brought PhilECo, Kandenevia, and welcomed billionaire Ramon Ang to finance the project.

Stressing the importance of sector-wide collaboration across civil society organizations and political parties, Mayang Azurin, Deputy Director for Campaigns, GAIA Asia Pacific, emphasized, “The flooding project is moving so fast in a time with extraordinary exposes on corruption in infrastructure projects and breaches in environmental and climate thresholds. It is obvious that powerful elites of politicians, companies, and their international financial institutions, as their backers, can ignore everything to benefit from this WTE incineration project.”

The co-convenor of MAIA, Ecowaste Coalition Reuse Officer Kweyn Camillon Tagaduar, said that public money is not working for the benefit of the people due to corruption.  “The people of Manila have greater force than the power of a few politicians and companies,” she said. The crowd echoed her call to reject the WTE incinerator in Manila.

Join and support MAIA by signing the petition at this link: https://chng.it/VhSQ9q8Btx