Regional Office No. 4 DENR Bidg., Government Center, Sevilla, City of San Fernando, LaUnion REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES —— ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT BUREAU — = 0115-12-66 CASE NO. 15-09-065 SUBJECT: VIOLATION OF ECC CONDITION and IMPOSITION OF PENALTY MR. MELCHOR Q. CABREROS, JR. Project Proponent MR. MELCHOR Q. CABREROS, JR. Project Proponent CABRERO’S POULTRY FARM Sitio Maburac, Brgy. Capulaan, Villasis, Pangasinan ORDER . For resolution is the case of MR. MELCHOR Q. CABREROS, JR. regarding his violation of the Condition of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) bearing no. ECC-R1-0803-029-1220 issued for his Agro-based Industry (Poultry) Project located atthe stated above address. ‘On September 15, 2015, a record on file was validated by technical personnel of this Bureau and the report disclosed that Condition Nos. 3,6,9 and 14 of said ECC was violated, to wit: Condition No, 3 ~ “Regular sanitary housekeeping practices, proper collection and disposal of solid/waste resulting from thé operation of the poultry project shall be strictly observed. The waste ‘management plan shall include adequate facilities for disposal of wastes which shall be done from the start of the construction”. On September 7,.2015, the project was inspected /monitored by concerned Local Government Unit (LGU) and found that they did not observed the proper disposal of solid wastes and have inadequate facilities for disposal of rotten dead chiiéken, (underscore supplied) Condition No. 6 - “The proponent’s operations shall conform with the provisions of RA 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990), RA 9003 (Act Providing for an Ecological Solid Waste Management Program), RA 9275 (Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004) and RA 8749 (Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999)”. As per Office records, the firm is not yet covered with Permit to Operate Air Pollution Installation and it is not registered as Hazardous Waste Generator from EMB Region 1, (underscore supplied) Condition No. 9 - “The proponent shall set-up Environmental Unit who shall handle the environmental aspects of the project, which shall haye the following responsibilities: a.) Monitoring Protect the environment... Protect Life... Tol. Nos. (072)-242-3057 700-2448; Fax No. (072)-700-2448; e-mail embden@vahco.comof mitigating and enhancement measures as cited in the EISMIEE Report ChecklisEPRMP, 2s appropriate; b.) Monitor actual project impact vis-a vis predicted impacts and management ‘measures; c.) Ensure that post-assessment permits are in place; d.) Ensure that monitoring and reporting are undertaken; e.) Ensure compliance to all the conditions and restrictions of the approved ECC.”, As per Office records, no accredited Pollution Control Officer| (underscore supplied) ‘ondition No. 14 — “That a Compliance Monitoring Report (Annex 3-1 of RPM) shall be prepared and submitted by the Proponent/PCO to this Office semi-annually; the submission of which shall be done not later than every fifteen day after each semester (January 15 and/or July 15) starting from the issuance of this Certificate”. As per Office records, no CMR submitted. (underscore supplied) | Section 9 of P.D. 1586 provides that: “aby person, partnership or corporation found violating Sec. 4 of this Desree, or the terms and couiitions in the issuance of the Environmental Compliance Certificate, or the standards, rules and regulations shall be punished by the suspension or cancellation of his/its certificate and/or a fine in fio| anomie not to exceed Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) for every violation thereof, at the discretion of the National Environmental Protection Council”. (Underscored now Environmental ment Bureau) (On the same date, a corresponding Notice of Violation (NOV) was issued to the proponent which also required him to explain in writing why no penalty should be imposed. | On November 6, 2015, this Office received an explanation letter dated November 3, 2015 from the respondent wherein the following reasons were cited, to wit: | “We did not violate Condition No. 3 - During normal operations the\farm has an accepted >| mortality rate of 3-59% out of the total chicken load per cycle. There is ant available mortality pit located within the area to cover the percentages. However, due to a system failure on September 4, 2015 the mortality rate is rise up to 15% which is only around 20,000\contrary to the 40,000 dead chickens mentioned in the news. Due to the limited space in the fartn, half of the mortality ‘was transported to an idle lot in Pozorrubia for proper disposal. The Municipality Officials of | Pozorrubio at frst would not allow burying of the dead chicken inthe area and Instructed 1s fo sransport it back to Villasis. However, the Municipality of Villasis Officials rejected the disposal of the dead chickens in Villasis dumpsite, they failed to assist us or give instructions for proper | disposal after we have reported.to them the incident. After days of delay in the Burying, the Municipality Officials of Pozorrubio finally allowed us to bury dead chicken in the area on September 8, 2015. We did not violate Condition No. 6 ~ We have already applied for Permit to Operate Air | Pollution Installation and the registration of Hazardous Wastes Generator.| We did not violate Condition No, 9 - The farm has a PCO Officer Heidee B. Cabreros registered | 0n April 15, 2011 that have undergone training and seminars conducted by| EMB for the set up ofEnvironmental Unit to handle to environmental aspects of the farm. Her accreditation as PCO is due for renewal and she is scheduled to attend the 8 hrs training on environmental management ‘on Nov. 11-12, 2015 at Crown Legacy, Baguio City. We did not violate Condition 14 - because we were not properly advised by the EMB Office *| concerning the requirement of such report. However, we shall submit the CMR for July 2015 | Spread afi ‘month. We did not expect the incident of system failure in the farm, it caused a tremendous loss in our operation, we have to payback the integrator ‘for the damaged chicks dnd feeds supplied to us, and we have spent huge cost for manpower, gasoline, woods and | Cquipments for the disposal of the dead chicks at Pozorrubio, and also spent cost to defend | ret te criminal ase andl case fle agent by the Poco ‘Minicipality officials, At the moment we have resumed operation, however we are still in a financial constraints as we are still trying to recover the loss from the incident. For this we would like to request your good office to refrain in imposing penalty against us, and to give us chance to | comply with the necessary requirement until December 15, 2015.” is Office finds the Respondent to hay After thorough evaluation of your case, inform you that w with the ECC Condition No. 9. However, we regret e substantially complied find no merit in your ianation letter to justify the non imposition of penalty for violation of Condition Nos. 3, 6 and 14 of the Environmental Compliance Certificate. In\view hereof, the respondent is hereby directed to pay a penalty for violating ECC Condition Nos. 3, 6 axld [4 in the amount of Thirty Thousand Pesos (Php30,000.00) within ten (10) Order. ' | days from receipt of this, Failure of the respondent to pay the said amount within the prescribed period shall constrain us to take more drastic legal hheasures/actions without prejudice to the issuance of a Cease and Desist Order. > $0 ORDERED. ie | Sevilla, San Fernando City, La Union. peor — MA. VICTORIA V. ABRERA o Regional Director