A CIVIL case has been filed against the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino in Barangay Lahug for allegedly discharging pollutants into the air and causing the progressive deterioration of a family’s health since 2003.
The Odullo family-–Lina, Jose Alan, Katherine Louse, Alan Joseph, Aldous Peter Joshua and Marie Aliana-–of Gemsville Subdivision lodged the civil suit, saying they’ve so far developed asthma, bronchitis, skin asthma and forms of allergies.
They said the irritations, according to doctors they’ve consulted both in the Philippines and abroad, were caused from irritants close to their home because they all suffered similar symptoms and ailments.
Source
They then traced the cause of their ailments to the “dark, obnoxiously smelling fumes and dust particles and other ail pollutants” coming from the exhaust pipes of the hotel’s power generator, boiler, air exchange units and other machineries located in a structure that was built just behind (their) house.
They attached photos showing the purported skin irritations they have developed, as well as photos showing thick smoke and a heap of garbage.
The suit caught Marco Protacio, the hotel’s general manager, by surprise.
In an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, he said the management and the Odullos had talked about the subject before and that they’ve tried to resolve the problem.
“We’ve put up remedial measures. For example, we increased the height of our wall. And we don’t use the generator as much anymore, aside from regular checks, because we have our own substation now,” he said.
“We are paying attention to their concerns. We had a power shutdown recently and we called them up to inform them that we were turning on the generators for a few minutes,” he added.
Yet, he acknowledged the Odullos’ “right to fight for what they believe in” while maintaining that the hotel has the corresponding permits and passed the necessary tests, including those that pertain to the environment.
The Odullos, in their complaint, confirmed having contacted the hotel several times through letters demanding for the “immediate institution of permanent measures to restore the clean and healthy environment that (they) used to enjoy.”
In their letters, they cited provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1999 “and other pertinent laws.”
But the hotel allegedly “ignored aforesaid demands and letters” and “failed and refused to institute the necessary permanent corrective measures to put an end to (our) sufferings.”
“The most that defendant did was to invite the plaintiffs to stay in one of the hotel’s rooms in a number of occasions that the hotel operated its machineries,” they stressed.
They said they also brought the matter before officials of Barangay Lahug but “this, however, likewise failed.”
Later, they went to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for assistance.
The agency, they said, “found (the hotel’s) operation to have violated provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1999, (Presidential Decree) 984 or the Pollution Control Law and
other environmental laws and implementing rules and regulations.”
The hotel, in response, wrote that it would “institute some remedial measures to contain the pollution it was causing.” However, they added, the hotel “failed to comply.”
When the Odullos followed (up) the status of the matter with the EMB, they were told that inspectors assigned to attend to their complaints had been transferred to another area of responsibility and that, with their office being undermanned, it cannot anymore attend to their complaints.
Hence the suit.
Represented by environment lawyer Dante Ramos and lawyer Joe Vinson Empaces, the Odullos said the exhaust pipes face their property and that the ducts are “almost directly trained and leveled at their house.”
They want the Regional Trial Court to issue a restraining order, and ultimately a mandatory injunction order, stopping the operation of the hotel’s power generator, ventilation equipment and other machineries “that cause unduly loud and irritating noise and/or discharge polluting smoke and fumes into the air.”
They also want P6.3 million in actual, moral and exemplary damages and litigation expenses, plus attorney’s fees amounting to 10 percent of the award. (KNR)
