3 firms closed for pollution

Philippine Daily Inquirer / METRO - May  20, 2006

Laguna Lake Development Authority has shut down three firms, including a popular family restaurant in Metro Manila, for illegally discharging waste water. Cease-and-desist orders were served on Max's Restaurant in South Triangle, Quezon Avenue, ACLEM Paper Mills Inc. in San Pedro, Laguna and several offices of the E. Malabanan Excavator and Plumbing Services in Pasig City.

"Max's has been operating without a discharge permit and it failed effluent standards in all parameters," LLDA general manager Casimiro Ynares III said a phone interview yesterday.

Two teams from LLDA and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources served the closure orders on the three polluting firms Thursday afternoon.

If they can serve customers without water, then fine, because we have sealed their water sources," Ynares said when asked if the order meant that the restaurant could no longer operate. The Inquirer called up the restaurant manager for comment several times yesterday but he had already left.

He added that he personally sealed two faucets in the restaurant which had been violating environmental regulations since 2003.

Max's owes the LLDA at least P1 million in fine for failing the effluent standards while ACLEM has been fined around P1.3 million

ACLEM Paper MIlls, which the LLDA described as a persistent violator, has been served two CDOs since 1995, when it was first issued a notice of violation.

"They still operate when no one's looking, that's why we plan to file criminal charges against them," Ynares said.

Max's restaurant, on the other hand, has been trying to comply with the requirements but a sampling conducted two weeks ago showed it once again failed to meet the standards despite remedial measures.

Ynares said the company will not be allowed to operate until it has come up with a plan for the construction of a waste water treatment facility, including the cost and timetable for its operation.

The DENR, meanwhile, enforced the cease-and-desist order on the E. Malabana Belen Excavator and Plumbing Services offices in Pasig City.

The septic tank excavators were sanctioned for violating Republic Act 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act when it drained sludge into a Pasig creek last week. The Pasig government last week shut down two offices of E. Malabanan in Barangay Sta. Lucia following the incident.

The LLDA has started a crackdown on polluting firms within its jurisdiction as experts reported that the 90,000-ha Laguna de Bay, the biggest inland body of water in the country, was "extremely stressed," and close to dying.