Noxious fumes

Last week my son who lives in Palo Alto visited us for the Thanksgiving holiday. He and my daughter-in-law stayed in our condo unit in Pasig. That was the time when an accident in a chemical factory in Libis, Quezon City happened and spread noxious fumes in a wide area.

We were worried because the fumes may be toxic enough to affect our pregnant daughter-in-law and the baby. So they just went off to spend a couple of days in Tagaytay. But my neighbors in our part of Quezon City were up in arms.

That foul smell came from a factory in Libis, Quezon City of Chemrez, a subsidiary of D and L Industries, a PSE listed issue. Jose Aresa of Quezon City’s Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) told Rappler the disturbing odor was due to the release of fumes by one of the monomer tanks of Chemrez that manufactures plastic.

Social media erupted with complaints. Here’s one cited by Rappler: “we have been tortured for hours by the stench of an unknown substance- too pungent the aroma makes us dizzy and almost nauseous. The aroma stretches across the street.”

Here is another: “Amoy pintura na amoy rugby. Buong lugar dito mabaho na masakit sa dibdib. Paglabas namin halos lahat ng tao nasa kalsada. Pagpunta namin sa baranggay marami nadin ang nag complain.”

I guess this problem happens because our government officials do not take their responsibilities to the community seriously. Bureaucrats make it difficult for small and medium entrepreneurs with all sorts of required permits, but when it comes to companies who can afford to pay you know what, they are very lax.

There is this thing called the Environment Impact Study that is required of factories like that of Chemrez before it is allowed to operate. It is a difficult document to complete and may actually cost some money in expert consultancy time to honestly prepare. But I imagine that with the proper connections, some can just file whatever they want and get away with it.

Maybe Chemrez, being part of a listed company, did a proper EIS. But however good it might have been, the basic fault is allowing the factory to locate in a heavily populated area. I am not sure if their EIS covered sufficient contingency plans in case something like what happened last week happens.

This is a zoning problem, something that is the responsibility of the local Quezon City government. We all know how lax the LGUs are with regards to zoning as evidenced by the haphazard growth we see all over Metro Manila.

Chemrez can say their factory is located in an industrial zone. Indeed, the main road there is called Calle Industria. But the nature of the area has drastically changed with the approval of the city government.

What used to be the location of factories – from Jackbilt to the textile mills of old – is now Eastwood City. Close by is Circulo Verde of the Ortigas group and the Aspire condominium.

Other than these high-end developments, there are the teeming masa living in Barangay Bagumbayan. I pity them more because they are closest to the offending Chemrez factory and got the brunt of the noxious fumes. If we were annoyed, they must have been horrified.

Just the week before that, a paper factory in about the same area also had a fire that lasted for a long time. When we woke up, our parked cars and the lawn were filled with fine white ash, similar to what we got when Mt Pinatubo erupted. I am told the ash fall from that fire got as far as Pasig and Mandaluyong. Of course, inhaling that ash is a serious threat to one’s health.

I am almost sure a worse fire or chemical accident would happen in that area one of these days that will cause greater health and safety concerns. The tragedy is we can’t expect our government to be proactive about the dangers. They are more concerned on how to make extra money by pretending to enforce the law.

The national government through DENR and its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has been remiss in its duties, as always. Quezon City officials are just as useless, it seems.

No one in government is concerned about the absolutely unhealthy air quality in Metro Manila. We are all feeling the effects of this bad air quality in the form of chronic sinus ailments, asthma and an overall reduction in our life expectancy. Air pollution due to vehicle emission is the obvious culprit, but absolutely nothing is done.

One of my readers wrote me to relate his experience when he tried to find out what government bureaucrats are doing. Here is his report:

“I had a meeting with one of the guys from the Air Quality Management office of the EMB-DENR. His simple answer to the question is the Euro 4 fuels implementation.

“This will help reduce the NOx emissions of new diesel engines. However we still have thousands of old diesel engines of jeepneys, buses and trucks. He told me his office is very strict in the engine emissions of new cars sold in the Philippines.

“As for the old vehicles, LTO is the agency concerned to deny the registration of these vehicles (Wow another DOTC attached agency not doing its job). Even with low sulfur emission of the vehicles, the daily traffic gridlock in the metropolis will always add to the already polluted air.

“Even the ASBU (Anti Smoke Belching Unit) of the local governments is not effective because this is only done to mulct money from taxis, delivery vans and trucks and privately owned diesel powered vehicles. It is obvious the PUJ and PUB are exempted from inspection of the ASBU.

“I asked the EMB engineer how the ASBU verifies the reading of the instruments. He told me their office has a list of approved brands and accredited calibration companies of the air monitoring devices. He advised me to dispute the readings and demand for the certification of the device if I doubt the reading. They don’t even have a proactive role to check that these devices provide correct readings.

“As regards the emission of factories, he told me the process of obtaining the emission is based on ‘90s technology. I told him there are already portable air measuring devices in the market and he answered the readings from these new devices would not be accepted because of the provisions of the Clean Air Act.

“I also told him the Department of Energy has approved the building of more coal powered plants. He told me their bosses are the ones talking with the Department of Energy. Another Wow because the agency in charge of our air quality does not know anything about a major pollutant that affects our environment.”

I realize given the congestion in Metro Manila, it would be nearly impossible to keep people from living near factories like Chemrez. But government must show it is at least trying to mitigate the danger as best as they can.

Taking the oil companies out of their Pandacan depot is inconvenient to the oil companies and the workers there, but it had to be done. Otherwise, a serious explosion there, specially in this age of terrorism, would put many lives at risk.

I realize the oil companies were in Pandacan ahead of the now crowded communities around the oil depot. It is the same thing with the factories in Libis, perhaps including the Chemrez facility.

But because the city government effectively re-zoned the Libis-Bagumbayan area to commercial and residential, there must be a plan to move out those factories because their presence puts lives at risk.

If the factory owners know any better, they should, on their own, start looking for a relocation site away from where too many people work and live. A more serious accident would cost them more in terms of money and reputation. A PSE listed issue will also have to factor the risk of a repeat of what happened last week in the stock’s valuation.

In the meantime, we call on DENR’s EMB and the city government under Mayor Herbert Bautista to do their job. They must be able to assure the safety of everyone living or working near those factories. No one should wait for a more serious accident to happen before they move. Remember what happened with that slipper factory fire in Valenzuela.

The first accident this month was the paper factory. Then the Chemrez factory. The next one may be a lot more serious and actually cost some lives. The EMB and City Hall have been warned.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.