Group claims smoke-belching firms still operating without permit

AN environmental group on Monday revealed that smoke-belching factories in the country are still operating without the required permit to operate (PTO) and environmental clearance certificate (ECC) from the Environmental Management Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (EMB-DENR).

“We were shocked to discover that smoke- belching factories are continuously operating in our country without the required permit to operate from EMB- DENR and even worst some of them does not possess the mandatory environmental clearance certificate,” Clean Air Philippines Movement Inc. ( CAPMI) president Manuel Galvez said.

“The massive air pollution coming from these factories pose as a clear and present danger not only to the environment but also to the health and life of factory workers inside these establishments as well as the people in the community where the factories are located,” he said

Galvez added that last October, CAPMI filed various complaints at the EMB against Melter Steel Corp., Real Steel Corp. and Wan Chiong Steel Corp. all in San Simon, Pampanga; Davao Mighty Steel Corp. and AVAO Mighty Steel Corp. in Davao province; and MetroDragon Steel Corp. in Caloocan City for various violations of the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or ECC law of the Philippines.

Republic Act 8749, or the Clean Air Act of 1999, is the law that protects the quality of air in the country. An ECC is a vital document required before any industrial establishment can be given the needed permits to engage in a business.

“We filed the necessary complaints against certain smoke belching factories nationwide months ago, but until now we still await the decisive action of the EMB to quickly resolve the deadly air pollution that these factories are producing,” Galvez said.

“On behalf of the unwilling victims who are continuously being exposed to the dangerous air pollution from these steel mills, we are appealing to government to immediately put a stop to this environmental crime. Each day of inaction clearly results to another day of life-threatening air pollution exposure that our people in these areas are subjected to,“he added.