CLOSED. San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora (right) and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu (left) serve the closure order on the slaughterhouse of Megga Foods and Stock Farm Inc. in Barangay Kabayanan on Wednesday (Jan. 22, 2020). The establishment was ordered closed for its failure to secure environmental permits. (PNA photo by Lloyd Caliwan)
MANILA -- The city government of San Juan and officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Wednesday closed a slaughterhouse due to violation of environmental laws and lack of environmental permits.
San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu served the closure order to the slaughterhouse of Megga Foods and Stock Farm Inc. in Barangay Kabayanan.
The establishment was slapped with a show-cause order in October last year after an earlier inspection showed that it has no wastewater discharge permit, sanitary permit, and City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) permit.
He said the management of the slaughterhouse did not respond to the show-cause order.
“Blatantly, nagva-violate sila sa patakaran ng DENR kaya minabuti natin isara. Wala silang communication. Ang dating dito wala silang pakialam kahit sinisita sila ng city hall. Wala silang effort na pumunta sa city hall para i-comply ang hinihingi namin (They are blatantly violating the DENR regulations so we opted to have it closed. They do not have any communication with us. It seems they do not care even if they are being called out by the city hall. They did not make an effort to comply with what we are asking for),” Zamora told reporters.
Zamora said the slaughterhouse has committed a serious violation for discharging waste into the San Juan River, denying the action against establishment is politically-motivated.
“Privately owned ito (This is privately owned). Secretary Cimatu is here so that just goes to show that there is no politics involved here that is involved here is a clear violation of DENR regulations and the city government ordinances,” Zamora said.
Meanwhile, Cimatu echoed Zamora's decision as the slaughterhouse is hampering the rehabilitation of Pasig River and Manila Bay.
"This greatly damages government efforts, especially those of the local governments to clean their areas. From here, it is discharged into the San Juan River and then goes to the Pasig River which then goes to the Manila Bay. We have been cleaning the Manila Bay for one year and what we do becomes useless if the rivers where this kind of waste comes from are like this," Cimatu said in Filipino. (PNA)
