Advocacy group seeks closure of steel plant

The advocacy group Foundation for National Development (FND) is urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to impose sanctions on a steel plant that operates a galvanized iron factory in Barangay Hugo Perez, Trece Martirez in Cavite.

FND said Sonic Steel Industries, Inc. should be closed for breach of pollution laws.

In a statement, FND president Jun C. Mallari said: "The DENR’s mandate is to prevent the degradation of the environment, as well as to protect and safeguard the health and general welfare of the people. The reported environmental pollution being generated by the Sonic plant is endangering the lives of the people in the vicinity, particularly those of its workers. Undoubtedly, the DENR has been remiss in fulfilling its duty in the case of Sonic which has blatantly violated salient provisions of its ECC granted as early as 1997."

Mallari pointed out that "as a law offender, Sonic should have been appropriately punished with no less than closure of its plant instead of a mere slap on the wrist." He went on to castigate Luciano Hormilla, DENR director for the Calabarzon region, who he said gave Sonic the "kid glove treatment" when he merely warned the company that it faces possible cancellation of its environment compliance certificate (ECC).

Mallari cited the report of a fact-finding multi-sectoral panel that visited the Sonic plant which stated that the firm failed to put up an environment monitoring fund (EMF) and create a multi-partite monitoring team to regularly check on the factory’s air, noise and wastewater emissions as required by the ECC.

Mallari said the investigators also discovered that Sonic has no wastewater treatment facility as a precondition of its operation. It was reported that wastewater generated by the firm was being stored in a container tank in the absence of the facility. There was no mention of how the company disposes of the wastewater when the tank is full.

The probers also reported that Sonic has no ECC to cover expansion of its plant completed in August last year and this is considered as another serious violation of the pollution laws.

"The law is very clear. Any expansion means a new ECC. How can Sonic operate without an ECC?" Mallari pointed out.

The company has denied the allegations.