THE Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 has recommended the suspension of the Treatment, Storage and Disposal (TSD) registration of the Davao City Environmental Care Inc. (DCECI) after medical wastes the company was supposed to treat ended up in the Mactan Channel and other areas.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for its part, said it would send a show-cause order to the DCECI to explain why it continued to operate in Cebu when it failed to report to the SEC-Davao where it was registered.
As the firm faced possible suspension of its registration, the EMB 7 also asked DCECI’s clients to avail themselves of the services of three other firms, including a waste-to-energy facility in Lapu-Lapu City, to collect and treat their medical wastes.
In a statement, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 Executive Director Gilbert Gonzales and EMB 7 Director William Cuñado said they came up with that decision following the evaluation of the firm’s facility in Barangay Umapad in Mandaue City earlier this week.
The two officials said the DCECI must upgrade its facility if it wanted to continue servings its clients.
The TSD registration is given to a facility that complies with all requirements to operate such an establishment. It means the facility is able to treat and dispose of hazardous wastes properly and safely.
Cuñado said it would be up to their central office in Manila to decide whether to suspend the DCECI’s TSD registration.
The firm’s troubles continued to pile up with the discovery that it failed to submit annual reports to the SEC in Davao City.
The reports would have contained the company’s audited financial report and the general information sheet (GIS).
Lorna Cubero, SEC-Cebu officer-in-charge and chief counsel, said the DCECI was registered for 50 years in 2012, but its registration was suspended after it failed to operate two years after its incorporation.
She said the firm still had the chance to explain why it failed to submit its annual reports while it operated in Cebu. Otherwise, its certificate of incorporation could be revoked.
“The violation is per report. If three years in operation, there will be three violations for financial statements and another three violations for GIS. There will be separate penalties for GIS and audited financial statements and the assessment of penalties is per year,” Cubero said.
Cubero said her office was coordinating with their counterpart in Davao City to look into the controversy that the company had gotten embroiled in Cebu.
“We have records in our data base (about DCECI), but (these are) not complete. If we can get DCECI records here (in Cebu), we have to transmit these to our head office for uploading. You can only get the complete records of DCECI where it is registered,” she said.
Meanwhile, with the DCECI’s operations suspended, Cuñado identified the three firms that had expressed interest to treat and dispose of medical wastes.
These are the Aquilini Mactan Renewable Energy Inc. in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, the Pollution Abatement Systems Specialists Inc. in Cebu City and the Medclean Management Solutions Inc. in Mandaue City.
The University of Cebu Medical Center (UCMed) said it had decided to rescind its contract with the DCECI and had sought the services of third-party waste treatment firm based in Leyte.
In a related development, the Lapu-Lapu City Government will provide assistance to fishermen and shell gatherers whose livelihood has been affected by the discovery of medical wastes along the city’s coasts.
Mayor Paz Radaza was dismayed that medical wastes continued to found on the shores of Barangays Ibo, Pusok, Mactan, Poblacion, Pajo, Buaya and Canjulao.
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, she instructed her personnel to check the report that medical wastes had washed up on the beaches of Barangays Canjulao and Punta Engaño.
In Ibo, Radaza planned to distribute food packs to 25 families who had stopped fishing and gathering shells because they were afraid to eat their catch.
The mayor said she would talk to the City Legal Office to discuss the filing of charges against the source of the medical wastes.
The City had sent letters to the Chong Hua Hospital Mandaue Cancer Center (CHHMCC), the UCMed and the Dr. Ignacio M. Cortes General Hospital (DIMCGH) in Mandaue City to explain why their medical wastes had reached Lapu-Lapu’s shores.
The CHHMCC and the DIMCGH, in their reply, blamed DCECI, the company they contracted to haul their medical wastes.
The City awaits the UCMed’s response. (GCM of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL)