AN ice plant operating in sitio Kanipaan, barangay Poblacion Ubos, Loay town is operating without an Environmental Compliance Certificate. (ECC), concerned resident Irma A. Villanueva said.
In her letter dated March 4, 2024 to Loay Mayor Hilario Ayuban, Villanueva bared that said ice plant is operating in violation of section 4, Presidential Decree No. 1586 per investigation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) thru Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) conducted on December 15.
The said provision provides that, “No person, partnership or corporation shall undertake any such declared environmentally critical project or area without first securing and ECC issued by the President or his duly authorized representative.”
The area where the ice plant is operating is located at the protected site declared under the law. It is occupying an area within the “Alburquerque-Loay-Loboc Protected Landscape and Seascape.”
Since this located within the protected area, Villanueva said, it is therefore “required to secure a Special Use Agreement in Protected Area (SAPA), aside from the ECC.
Villanueva cited Republic Act 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act, section 12 that those facilities like ice plants situated in protected areas “shall be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The said letter made mention that the mayor has issued this year and last year permits to the ice plant to operate.
Mayor Ayuban reacted to the allegation that the ice plant has been issued permit to operate in 2023 and this year.
“Dili korek ng g- ingon nga gi issuehan ug permit sa LGU.. wala nay permit 2023 & 2024,” the mayor said. (It is not correct that ice plant has been issued of permits. It did not have permits in 2023 and 2024).
Villanueva also enumerated some of ice plant violations, not just environmental laws. One of these is that it breaches section 701, chapter 7 of the Building Code of the Philippines. This ice plant is industrial based on DENR’s classification but the building being constructed for the plant is commercial.
It also violated Civil Code as the ice plant is creating “terrible noise” in the “wee hours of the morning disrupting the tranquility of the neighborhood and causing too much stress endangering the health and safety of the community around it.”
“This ice plant violated the Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of Loay particularly the land use map of barangay Poblacion Ubos.”
The facility also appears to be discharging its waste water into the river nearby since it did not have a waste water treatment facility. This considering that ice plants use refrigerants and sodium chloride (salt) in the making and processing of ice. “Sodium kills plants by making it hard for its roots to grow. Chloride, on the other hand, is toxic to aquatic life.”
Ayuban, meanwhile, said in interview that he already ask, through a letter dated March 14, 2024, the ice plant owner to comply all the requirements, like the ECC, land use and SAPA.
The letter gave Zosima Cantoneros, the owner of the ice plant, five days to visit and submit the said documents (requirements) “to refute the allegations of Villanueva,” the mayor said.
If no compliance of the requirements, the Office of the Mayor is constrained to shut down the ice plant, the mayor added. (ricobedencio@yahoo.com)
