November 13, 1999, Seattle Times / AP, Manila Stumbles In Attempts To Level 11-Story Garbage Heap, by Jim Gomez,

November 13, 1999, Seattle Times / AP, Manila Stumbles In Attempts To Level 11-Story Garbage Heap, by Jim Gomez, 

MANILA, Philippines - The smoldering garbage dump grew so big over the decades that it became known as "Smokey Mountain."

The Philippine government finally closed the notorious 11-story mound in 1995, planning to remove the Manila eyesore and the poor scavengers who lived on it.

Officials planned to convert the dump into a showcase of compassion and economic progress by leveling it and building rows of apartments for the more than 2,700 scavenger families who worked the mound's slopes to collect pieces of metal or plastic to sell.

But the government has found eradicating Smokey Mountain a daunting task.

Under the original $154 million plan, a private developer, R-II Builders, was allowed to reclaim nearby land in Manila Bay to build a harbor and commercial center that could provide jobs for the dump dwellers.

The company also was to dispose of about 130,000 truckloads of filth that had accumulated since the 1950s by burning the trash in an incinerator to be installed at the dump.

Protests by environmental groups, however, blocked the plan. It was completely aborted last June when President Joseph Estrada signed the Clean Air Act, which bans the use of incinerators.

Barrientos said about 6,500 truckloads of garbage were bulldozed off the mound and dumped elsewhere, but communities in the Manila area with landfills refused to take more.

Then came a series of new proposals. One involved dumping the garbage in Manila Bay as landfill to form part of the harbor hub. Another suggested turning the garbage into a "mountain park" with benches, trees and manicured lawns.

Some critics question the idea of remaking Smokey Mountain into a residential area. Congressman Carlos Padilla said methane gas produced by decomposing garbage makes the pink, green and blue apartment buildings going up at the 52-acre site a "ticking time bomb." Barrientos says the methane emissions are minimal.

The developer has installed a network of plastic pipes to vent methane into the air and keep it from accumulating under the surface.

If the garbage mountain remains, the apartments are unlikely to be opened for occupancy later this year as planned, the company says.

Like most of the scavengers now sheltered in rent-free, temporary houses nearby, Reynaldo Almendo, 36, worries whether he can afford the monthly rent of 700 pesos - about $18.

He has known no other work but scavenging.

"I'll find a job somehow. I can make it," he said, wearing a worn-out boot on one foot and an old shoe on the other.

Many of the scavengers have been taught skills like growing orchids and using computers to improve their job prospects.

But Linda San Jose, a government housing official, said jobs are scarce in the Philippines.

In the temporary houses, a few scavengers have turned to drug pushing to survive, she said. Others flock to the new garbage transfer station near the old landfill site, armed with metal rods used to claw through refuse.

"We have brought them out, but they will always go back to the garbage if they don't find other jobs," she said.