MULTIFARMS Agro-Industrial Development Corp. has proposed to recycle the wastewater of its large-scale piggery in Barangay Sangat, San Fernando, Cebu. It also plans to implement the biogas system to produce energy.
Both proposals will be taken up during the technical conference on Friday, March 1, set up by the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) 7 to make sure the firm complies with environmental laws.
As to the firm’s long overdue environmental violation fine of P14.5 million, the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) will decide on the matter, said EMB 7 Director William Cuñado.
Cuñado said Multifarms already coordinated with the PAB on where to pay the fine, in accordance with Commission on Audit rules.
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) 7 Director Alfeo Piloton welcomed the development.
“Bfar’s concern is to stop the piggery from polluting the sea because it will destroy marine life and endanger public health,” Piloton said.
He said the pipes Multifarms used to dispose of the piggery’s waste into the sea were taken to the Bfar compound in Cebu City.
Last Wednesday night, Feb. 27, Multifarms owner and president Santiago Tanchan III and employees Rosalio and Jayson Fritz Aguanta and Jeramil Sabala were released after posting bail.
The four, who were taken into custody when a composite team of different government agencies served a search warrant on Multifarms last Tuesday, refused to submit their counter-affidavit before the provincial prosecutor’s office and opted to answer the allegations against them in court.
The warrant indicated that the firm violated the Fisheries Code of 1998 and the Clean Water Act of 2004.
National Bureau of Investigation 7 Assistant Director Dominador Cimafranca said each of the accused posted a P24,000 bail for the Clean Water Act violation and P48,000 for the Fisheries Code violation.
Meanwhile, Edcel Laguda, acting municipal treasurer of San Fernando, saw no problems with Multifarms’ operation.
He said the firm had religiously renewed its business permit and paid its real property and business taxes since the piggery was established in the 1980s.
He said the piggery was established before the law that required companies to obtain an environmental compliance certificate was put in place.
When sought for comment on the issue, Carlo Suarez, president of the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu, also said what happened last Tuesday was a positive development.
“What I am seeing now is that most government agencies are now collaborating in checking the different players in the industry... which is a good thing. For us, investors, we need to do our part in complying with the rules and regulations. I will understand if not everyone is still compliant due to their own reasons, but it will be to the benefit of all if we just move towards better improvement,” Suarez said.
If the piggery in San Fernando is shut down, the Department of Agriculture (DA) 7 assures that pork supply in the province will not be affected.
“The closure will have a negligible impact on the supply, as there are other suppliers here like Asturias Farms, Unifeeds in Dumanjug, among others,” said DA 7 Director Salvador Diputado. (With AZLG of SuperBalita Cebu, KAL, KOC)