The city government of San Juan and officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) closed a slaughterhouse for violating environmental laws and for lack of environmental permits.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu served the closure order on the slaughterhouse of Megga Foods and Stock Farm Inc. in Barangay Kabayanan.
The establishment was slapped with a show-cause order in October last year after an earlier inspection showed that it lacks a wastewater discharge permit, a sanitary permit, and a City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) permit.
Zamora said the management of the slaughterhouse did not respond to the show-cause order.
“They are blatantly violating the DENR regulations so we opted to have it closed.”
“Blatantly, nagva-violate sila sa patakaran ng DENR kaya minabuti natin isara. Wala silang communication. Ang dating dito wala silang pakialam kahit sinisita sila ng city hall. Wala silang effort na pumunta sa city hall para i-comply ang hinihingi namin (They are blatantly violating the DENR regulations so we opted to have it closed. They do not have any communication with us. It seems they do not care even if they are being called out by the city hall. They did not make an effort to comply with what we are asking for),” Zamora said.
Zamora said the slaughterhouse has committed a serious violation for discharging waste into the San Juan River, as he denied politics was behind its closure.
“Privately owned ito (This is privately owned). Secretary Cimatu is here so that just goes to show that there is no politics involved here that is involved here is a clear violation of DENR regulations and the city government ordinances,” Zamora said.
“The slaughterhouse is hampering the rehabilitation of Pasig River and Manila Bay.”
Meanwhile, Cimatu echoed Zamora’s decision as the slaughterhouse is hampering the rehabilitation of Pasig River and Manila Bay.
“This greatly damages government efforts, especially those of the local governments to clean their areas,” Cimatu said.
“From here, it is discharged into the San Juan River and then goes to the Pasig River which then goes to the Manila Bay. We have been cleaning the Manila Bay for one year and what we do becomes useless if the rivers where this kind of waste comes from are like this,” the environment head added.