The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) slapped a P150,000 fine against a company that it earlier found to be causing pollution in Manila Bay.
In a statement, the DENR also “provisionally” allowed the Philippine Ecology System Corp. (PhilEco) to resume operations for its marine garbage-transfer station at Pier 18 in Tondo, Manila.
The fine was for the violation of conditions of the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) issued to the company for its garbage-transfer station’s operation.
Acting on a motion for reconsideration filed by PhilEco, the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau in the National Capital Region (EMB-NCR) lifted the suspension order it earlier issued against the firm for the discharge of waste leachate and spillage of garbage materials in Manila Bay from its Vitas Marine Loading Station (VMLS).
The “provisional clearance” was issued upon orders of Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, the statement said.
The DENR chief ordered EMB-NCR to make sure PhilEco will be made accountable for its violations, and comply with all the conditions in its ECC.
PhilEco has settled the P150,000 fine imposed by the EMB-NCR.
In a resolution dated October 10, the EMB-NCR noted “substantial compliance” by PhilEco, since Cimatu himself inspected the VMLS, where he confirmed the adverse findings against the firm, including the leachate from voluminous solid waste dumped at the transfer station directly discharging into Manila Bay.
EMB-NCR Director Vizminda Osorio, however, clarified that the “corrective measures” undertaken were only short-term in nature in order to immediately stop the discharge of waste leachate into Manila Bay.
“We can withdraw the provisional clearance at any time should we find PhilEco reneging on its commitment to fully implement specific long-term measures we laid out to prevent a repeat of their ECC violations,” Osorio explained.
Among the short-term measures implemented by PhilEco include the repair works at the facility’s seawall, installation of nets at the docking area to prevent garbage spillage during loading and installation of pumps that suck leachate from the waste-collection area into containers that are eventually transported to the Navotas Sanitary Landfill.
Osorio said PhilEco was given up to three months to rehabilitate its 100-meter seawall, set up a secured holding or containment area for collected waste materials delayed for transfer during inclement weather and put up litter fences around the 3-hectare facility.
For the long-term, Osorio said PhilEco is expected to implement the absolute prohibition of scavengers and trash pickers in the facility.
The scavengers, especially the so-called jumpers who climb garbage-collection trucks going to the VMLS compound, were also responsible for the proliferation of roadside litter and scattering of collected garbage within the facility.
Environmental groups under Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, meanwhile, said it welcomes the move of the DENR-EMB.
However, the group through its national coordinator, Clemente Bautista, said the DENR action is “inadequate and ineffective” in stopping the company from contaminating Manila Bay.
“What the DENR must do beyond penalizing PhilEco is to close its transfer and landfill operation in Manila Bay,” Bautista said.
He said the DENR should not have allowed PhilEco to operate near Manila Bay in the first place.
Also, Bautista lamented that the P150,000 fine is just “a token punishment”. “They should also shoulder the cost of cleaning the bay,” he said.
“Heavier fines should be [slapped] and, if allowed, [amount to] millions of pesos to serve a deterrent to other would-be violators,” he added.
“But again, they [facilities] should be closed and their permit revoked,” Bautista added. Besides the fine imposed against PhilEco, the company may still be held accountable for violation of the Clean Air Act.
It was not immediately known whether there is a move to impose a stiffer penalty against PhilEco, considering that the Supreme Court has a continuing mandamus ordering the DENR and other government agencies to restore Manila Bay to its pristine state.