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Monday, May 16, 2005
FMC Marine declines help in detoxifying wastewater
THE United States-based seaweed processor FMC Marine Colloids Philippines Inc. has refused an offer by a nongovernment organization to help the company detoxify its wastewater.
In a letter furnished Sun.Star by Looc Barangay Captain Editha Cabahug, FMC managing director Tita Tomayao thanked United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) National Commission of the Philippines Commissioner Leonarda Camacho for the concern of her office "on the alleged pollution of the Mandaue-Mactan Channel as expressed in several newspaper articles."
However, in the letter, she also allayed the "unfounded fears that FMC has failed to comply with the regulations of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)."
"Our plant has more than adequately fulfilled the regulatory requirements in the treatment of our wastewater," according to the letter.
Cheap
In her visit to Cebu last February, Camacho told a press conference that Unesco is willing to teach FMC how to detoxify, at a cheap price, its "toxic" wastewater before the company throws it into the Mactan Channel.
"Detoxifying wastes using malunggay leaves extract and coconut water is very cheap. There is no reason for them (FMC) to refuse the solution," she said.
FMC is cited in the "State of the Philippine Environment" report done jointly by the Unesco and the DENR as one of the three hotspots or places in the country where pollution is going on in secret. FMC is located in Barangay Looc.
But Tomayao said the reliability of FMC's wastewater treatment facility has been verified by more than 30 "impartial technical inspections and samplings conducted independently by the DENR Cebu and the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) in the three-year period the case was going on."
The environment case filed by the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines was dismissed by the PAB last year. JBN
(May 16, 2005 issue)
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