MULTIFARMS Agro-Industrial Development Corp. promised to pay the P14.5 million fine meted by the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB), and it will implement mitigating measures within the deadline imposed by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7.

EMB 7 Director William Cuñado ordered the company to stop discharging its piggery waste into the sea.

During the closed-door technical conference in EMB 7 that lasted over an hour, Multifarms president Santiago Tanchan III signed a commitment sheet stating that he should follow the provisions under Republic Act 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act.

Tanchan refused an interview with Superbalita Cebu.

Cuñado said Multifarms should pay the P14.5 million fine on or before March 8.

In the commitment sheet, Tanchan promised to finish the installation of an additional biogas digester by March 16. Twenty percent of the wastewater will be pumped into a vacant lot of the piggery and it will be stored temporarily for 20 days.

Multifarms will submit status reports through electronic mail every day to the legal division of EMB 7.

Cuñado said the company will be fined again if it will not comply with the EMB 7 regulations. The fine will be P50,000.

“We should fulfill the agreement. If they will not honor it, I will be forced to impose the law,” he said.

The EMB 7 chief said the operation of Multifarms in Barangay Sangat, San Fernando continued before the raid happened because it implemented mitigating measures. The data submitted by Multifarms to EMB 7 showed that the sample of its wastewater discharged to the sea met the standard.

EMB 7 personnel got a sample of wastewater from the piggery, and the results will be known on Sunday, March 3.

“Whatever the result is... we will endorse it to PAB for the implementation. In the meantime, we have already ordered them to stop discharging (wastewater),” Cuñado said.

Multifarms had applied for an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the expansion of its piggery. (From SCG of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)