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Tuesday, December 06, 2005
LGU, national brass ignore pollution in Bislig City
By Antonio M. Ajero
RELIGIOUS leaders lament that local officials of Bislig City, the province of Surigao del Sur, and heads of concerned national agencies are not doing enough about the problem of pollution.
Many residents in Bislig City are afflicted with cancer and other life-threatening ailments allegedly due to air and water pollution caused by the papermaking and wood processing operation of Picop Resources Inc.
The parishioners are spearheading a protest rally scheduled on December 10 to dramatize the pollution that the city residents suffered.
A pastoral letter signed by Fr. Florio R. Falcon, parish priest of Saint Vincent de Paul Parish in Mangagoy, Bislig City, accused government officials--from the barangay unit up to the presidency--of not addressing the problem despite petitions, letters of complaints, and actual cases filed against Picop.
Fr. Falcon is the parish priest of Saint Vincent de Paul parish and Judicial Vicar of the Tandag Diocese.
Monitoring activities by the Bislig Community Environment and Natural Resources Office has confirmed that Picop operations caused air and water pollution.
The same pastoral letter bared that tests conducted affirmed that the coastal areas in Picop in Barangays Mangagoy and Tabon continued to deteriorate because of untreated waste effluents from the company's plants.
It further said the smoke emitted by the coal-fired mills and various toxic chemicals used in the manufacture of paper are causing air pollution.
Fr. Falcon said studies conducted by experts showed the correlation between air and water pollution caused by Picop and an increase in the cases of cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and other respiratory ailments among residents and workers in Barangays Mangagoy and Tabon.
Earlier, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environment Management Bureau in Caraga Region, then headed by Regional Direcor Ester A. Olavides, filed a complaint against Picop before the Pollution Adjudication Board allegedly for polluting the waters of Bislig.
Bislig Bay, which used to be a rich source of marine products, is now heavily polluted not only with solid waste materials dumped by the bark plant of a wood processing firm but also with toxic substances that their coal-fueled boiler allegedly emits.
As a result of relentless complaints of the residents, Picop signed a "commitment" to stop operating its coal-fired boiler in one month.
But Fr. Falcon's group reported that Picop's coal-fired boiler is still operating and that it has not followed the commitment. (With reports from Mohammad Calansingin)
(December 6, 2005 issue)
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