By Catherine Teves/PNA
MANILA — Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has assured to penalize establishments that will violate the agency’s condition for temporarily lifting of cease and desist orders (CDOs) on polluting Manila Bay.
LLDA will reimpose the CDOs if establishments fail to undertake needed anti-pollution measures within the 90-day period specified in corresponding temporary lifting orders (TLOs), noted the agency’s Environmental Regulation Department Manager III Emiterio Hernandez.
“The lifting is temporary only as establishments concerned have three months to do what each committed for stopping pollution,” he said at a briefing Tuesday in Quezon City.
He said LLDA can also either grant or deny extension of TLOs.
Three-month extension of TLOs is possible if an establishment truly needs more time to fully undertake anti-pollution measures, he said.
Cracking down on polluting establishments is among government’s activities for rehabilitating Manila Bay so this water body can be fit again for swimming and other contact recreational activities.
The LLDA has issued five CDOs, 12 notices of violation (NOVs) and three ex-parte orders to Pasay City and Manila-based establishments identified as contributing to Manila Bay’s pollution.
“We’ll close sources of wastewater pollution in such establishments,” said Hernandez.
Faucets, lavatories, septic tanks and grease tanks are among such sources, he added.
So far, he said LLDA already issued CDOs, NOVs and ex-parte orders to 63 establishments in Pasay City and Manila, the agency’s areas of jurisdiction.
LLDA issues the CDO if an establishment’s pollution is more than 10 times the standard, noted Hernandez.
NOVs are for establishments with pollution up to about five times the standard, he said.
Ex-parte orders establishments to explain, within a specified period, why these shouldn’t be issued CDOs for polluting the environment, he continued.
One establishment that secured a TLO is already working on measures to addressing its pollution, Hernandez noted.
He added several establishments are applying to secure their respective TLOs.
Hernandez said a CDO-issued establishment aiming to secure a TLO must submit to LLDA its plan outlining activities for pollution control.
“That establishment must appoint its pollution control officer,” he said.
The establishment must likewise specify its long-term remedial measures like installing a treatment facility, he added.
He said such establishment must also pay at least 25 percent of the penalty for polluting waters of Manila Bay.
Under RA 9275 (Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004), sanctions for not complying with this law include fine of up to PHP200,000 per day of violation.
