Singer and environmental awardee Geneva Cruz joins the urban poor of Smokey Mountain against the waste-burning plant in Manila

Green Gala Awardee and internationally-renowned singer Geneva Cruz joined the Day of Action Against Incineration in Smokey Mountain, attended by over 500 urban poor residents.

“The people of Smokey Mountain have struggled with the impacts of poverty and environmental injustice, now facing job losses, forced evictions, and reprisals from proponents of the WTE project. Dean Michael Roxas and I will meet you all at San Pablo Apostol Parish & Covered Court in Tondo, Manila, where we were both born, for this important event by Gaia Zero Waste Asia against incineration”, she posted days before the activity.

The singer who rose into stardom as a member of the seminal quartet Smokey Mountain, named after the former Manila dumpsite, has championed environmental awareness. She dedicated a medley of the band’s songs entitled Kailan, Paraiso, and Better World inside the San Pablo Apostol covered court. Around 500 residents attended the event throughout the day.

President Ferdinand Marcos has rallied financial support for a P26 Billion WTE incineration project planned to be built in Smokey Mountain, Tondo, seen as a solution to the country’s waste and flooding issues. He has also urged the institutionalization of the WTE Bill against standing bans on incineration.

San Pablo Apostol Parish hosted a day-long event, with Fr. Allan Ferdinand Dizon, FdCC, Executive Director of CTCFI & BCFI, leading a mass in support of the cause. The parish is a member of the EcoWaste Coalition, a co-organizer of the event. Ecowaste Coalition has been working with wastepickers in Brgy 128, Smokey Mountain, where the planned WTE incineration project is already forcibly displacing homes and livelihoods to clear the proposed site of settlements.

 “WTE incinerators generate hazardous emissions and threaten the livelihoods of wastepickers who have always been at the forefront of cleaning Manila’s waste through recycling“, Shey Levite, False Solutions Campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, said.

“WTE incineration is not only bad for the environment, it is also bad for the health, especially of those who already have health problems and concerns about footing health expenses.” We should not be adding more sources of emissions that would heat up the climate. What we need is affordable and renewable energy for everyone”, Fread  De Mesa, the National Coordinator of 350 Pilipinas, said.

Joanna Amican, Secretary of the  Philippine National Waste Workers Alliance (PNWWA), said politicians would often say they need millions of dollars, but little would actually go to implementation because a lot of the finance goes to greasing a lot of hands. “ We don’t really need a lot of money to solve the waste issue. We simply need to reduce, reuse, recycle, and segregate, which is already stipulated in the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.”

“The illegal evictions in Smokey Mountain being waged by the government are clearly for the interest of big corporations,” Mimi Domingo, Secretary General of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (KADAMAY).  She said development-induced displacement is not only destroying homes but also the dignity and the chances of ever moving out of poverty. She also cited that laws are in place to protect the rights of the urban poor communities, and yet the government has chosen to dismiss them.

Albrecht Arevalo, Climate and Anti-incineration Campaigner of GAIA Asia Pacific, said, “Incineration is not a solution; it is a dangerous distraction. The Asian Development Bank and other international financial institutions must phase out all forms of waste-to-energy and waste-burning technologies. Imagine if the billions of dollars poured into these harmful and inefficient technologies were redirected toward community-based zero waste solutions that create sustainable jobs while building resilience to climate impacts. What’s more, these technologies have a history of displacing tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people in the Asia Pacific. These are false solutions that have not solved waste issues anywhere, and will only exacerbate existing inequalities.”

The event was capped with the formation of the Manila Anti-Incineration Alliance (MAIA), a multisectoral alliance led by community organizations aimed at fighting the WTE incineration project.

Cruz joined the chanting with the communities during the closing of the Day of Action Against Incineration, “ Serbisyo sa tao, huwag gawing negosyo!”, “demolisyon, demolisyon, tutulan, labanan!” and “Waste-to-Energy – tutulan, labanan, huwag pahintulutan!”.

The groups are planning larger actions against the WTE project until the President, the City of Manila Mayor, DPWH, MMDA, DHSUD, NHA, and other relevant agencies sit down with them in meaningful consultation.