PULILAN, Bulacan—Officials ordered the operation of a company which emits toxic and stench that has been an almost a year health-hazard concern of the residents.
Mayor Maria Rosario Ochoa-Montejo said on Sunday that the operation of a company renting in RIS Warehouse in Barangay Sta. Peregrina that has been identified emitting toxic materials has been stopped.
Montejo said she ordered the firm to stop its operation due to complaints of toxic smell from the residents. She said they were able to locate which among the tenants in the RIS warehouse that emits the said pollution through the help of the police and some residents.
Roberto Cruz, head of Pulilan Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO) earlier told NEWSCORE that the RIS warehouse was issued a business permit by the municipal government and has been operating without any issue since 2022. However, one of its tenants, a plastic recycling firm which does not have a permit to operate and burn its materials, had caused the air pollution.
Some 500 residents in adjacent Barangay Inaon and also in Sta. Peregrina raises complaints against the said tenant of the RIS over health-hazardous concerns.
Evelyn Arceo de Galicia, 63, of Manalili St., Barangay Inaon led local folks in attending the “Misa Para sa Kalikasan” mass held at Pulong Kabyawan agricultural, heritage and cultural farm in their barangay on Feb. 7 as part of their call to stop the pollution taking place in their agricultural farms, fields and residences.
De Galicia said that their family members would not stop experiencing headaches and coughs because of the foul smell. “Anytime of the day, they will emit a horrible smell. We are no longer safe here in our community,” she said.
According to her, there were no previous health concerns in the operation of the private warehouse company, but when it started to pollute their environment, they needed to ask the church for help.
“The warehouse has been emitting toxic air out of burnt rubber and plastic for a year now. That is when the problem begins. Before that, there was no problem, the warehouse operates as it is, a plain warehouse with no burning of health hazardous material, without polluting our fresh air here in Inaon,” she said.
The foul odor emissions reach first, the Pulong Kabyawan, an agricultural heritage and tourism farm is also located.
Andrew De Guzman whose family owns the Pulong Kabyawan said residents in Inaon agreed only for the construction and operation of a warehouse during a public hearing when it was being constructed in 2020. Pulong Kabyawan, a six-hectare historical and cultural destination in the middle of a rice farm in Inaon, is a major nature and tourism farming destination in Bulacan since it began operating three years ago.
Pulong Kabyawan has a century old house De Guzman re-built during the pandemic in 2020 where people could inhale fresh air and spend moments in a farm for planting rice, harvesting fruits, fishing, roaming around and biking.
De Guzman is among Bulacan and Central Luzon’s leading visual artists and director and one of the pioneers in the annual Mandala Art Festival which aims to help preserve the agricultural farms and lands in Pulilan from being converted into industrial properties. His family-owned Pulong Kabyawan agricultural farm also has a museum depicting the rich cultural heritage of rice farming in Pulilan.
Rev. Fr. Peter Collins Crisostomo, Director for Diocesan Ecological and Environmental Program (DEEP) of the Malolos Diocese staged the “Misa Para sa Kalikasan” in support of the call of the villagers to stop polluting the fresh air in their place.
Fr. Crisostomo in his homily and in an interview said nature and environment is a God’s gift of love to people which leaders in our government and society should lead in protecting and preserving.
“Dapat pag-ingatan ang ano mang bigay sa atin ng nature kasi kapag ang kalikasan ang gumanti, tayo rin ang mahihirapan,” (We should take care of nature that is given to us because nature could take its toll against us), the priest added.
