Friday, October 03, 2008 Baguio bans cement plants inside city By Dexter A. See
THE City Government ordered all cement batching plants operating here to stop operations and look for relocations sites outside Baguio.
This stand of the city against the operation of cement-batching plants was an offshoot of numerous complaints from barangay residents saying existing plants cause air, noise, water, and land pollution.
Baguio City Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas said the ban on these plants is in line with the local government's effort to clean the city's air, water systems and land area from unnecessary nuisance primarily caused by cement batching plants.
Since there are still hardheaded contractors who refuse to remove their batching plants in the city, Farinas requested the Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to assist in the forcible removal of the cement batching plants that are reportedly illegally operating.
Under the ordinance approved by the City Council, contractors who own cement-batching plants in the city are given a 30-day grace period to vacate their premises but it seems some of them are delaying to ensure their continuous operations.
Some cement-batching plants in the city do not have the required Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the Environmental Management bureau (EMB) in the Cordillera.
Worse, the City Government has not allegedly issued permits to operate to the owners of these plants, thus, the same are considered to be illegal businesses, which must be immediately closed.
The booming construction industry in the city has forced several unscrupulous contractors to establish their plants closer to their project sites to save on cost as well as manpower and maintenance of vehicles.
Earlier, thousands of residents of Camp 7 and other barangays hosting cement-batching plants have petitioned the City Government to initiate moves to remove such facilities in their barangay.
According to them, the dust particles emitted by these plants in the mixing of concrete has given them respiratory diseases.
Farinas also requested law enforcement agencies to immediately effect the implementation of the measure and stop their illegal operations to safeguard the health of the people in affected barangays.
