Muntinlupa shuts down Fresnedi kin's abbatoir

MANILA, Philippines - The Muntinlupa City government ordered a slaughterhouse owned by a brother of former mayor Jaime Fresnedi to suspend its operations for continuing to discharge waste into the waters of Laguna Lake, officials said yesterday.

Rodolfo Oliquino, chief of the city’s Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) issued the order to the Presnedi Slaughterhouse on San Guillermo street in Barangay Putatan.

He said owner Daniel Presnedi, younger brother of ex-mayor Jaime Fresnedi, failed to submit documentary requirements for the slaughterhouse’s business permit. The city’s public information office said the ex-mayor chose to use “Fresnedi” instead of his family’s original surname.

The establishment will be allowed to open only when its owners are “able to comply with all the documents needed for the approval of their permit renewal.”

In its letter to Presnedi, the BPLO said the application for business permit of the slaughterhouse is temporarily held “pending submission of documentary requirements” deemed vital to the operation.

If Presnedi fails to comply, the BPLO said it shall issue a closure order to shut down the slaughterhouse.

Oliquino said his office can no longer grant another 15-day grace period as it noted that the slaughterhouse is “affecting the health and safety not only of the consumers but also of the ecological balance and environmental protection of the community.”

Presnedi was earlier told to submit a clearance or certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), sanitary and health offices, among others.

More than 200 residents of San Guillermo street, where the slaughterhouse is situated, have sought a closure order “against the continuing operation of the illegal slaughterhouse.”

In a letter to LLDA chief Edgardo Manda last March 11, 2009, the residents reminded him of their original complaint to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza last year, which Atienza immediately acted upon.

Government technicians who conducted laboratory tests reportedly found defects, including water samples discharged from the slaughterhouse.

The residents said in spite of a closure order issued by the authorities, the illegal slaughterhouse never stopped its operations.

“It is most surprising that the same polluting establishment continuous to operate, and operating at will, up to this time in total disregard of the said (closure) order,” the petitioners wrote Manda.

The residents said since April 2008, when the closure order was issued, the illegal slaughterhouse continues to pose grave health hazards to the community due to its discharge of untreated water and encroachment into Laguna Lake, as well as causing air and noise pollution.