The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) denied on Tuesday that flood wastes and other debris are being illegally dumped in the Marikina River after environmental groups said they caught MMDA trucks dumping silt and garbage left by tropical storm “Ondoy” into the river.

Environmental groups including Greenpeace Water Patrol, EcoWaste Coalition and Buklod Tao Kalikasan said under R.A. 9275, or the Clean Water Act, discharging or depositing materials directly or indirectly into water bodies, which can cause water pollution or impede the natural flow of water, is prohibited. Similarly, R.A. 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, bans the open dumping of waste matters in public places, especially in flood-prone areas.

The groups said they have documented trucks from the city government of Marikina and MMDA dump silt and garbage on to the riverbank. Later, bulldozers and payloaders pushed the wastes into the river water in Barangay Nangka, they said.

They called on MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando and his wife, Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando to explain and take action against the dumping of flood wastes and debris into river.

Director Ramon Santiago, chief of the MMDA's Directorate for Special Operations (DSO), admitted that agency trucks are dumping silt and garbage at a site near the river, but not into the river itself. He said the site is among those that the agency and the city government converted as temporary dump sites.

He said they are now speeding the transport of more than 36,000 cubic meters of garbage collected at temporary garbage dumpsites in Marikina to the landfills.

Mountainous garbage will be transferred at existing landfills, in Rizal province and Payatas in Quezon City while officials of San Jose Del Monte also offered their landfill, Santiago said.