Leyte Rep. Richard I. Gomez wants an update from the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) o address the massive pollution of water, soil, and air resources in Palompon, Leyte caused by the discharge of chicken solid wastes into the waters of the Albuera-Tinag-an stream system that drains into Ormoc Bay.
Gomez has earlier urged the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources to recommend the filing of criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against Palompon Mayor Ramon Oñate and his wife Lourdes for gross violation of the country’s land and environmental laws.
He has likewise recommended that the House committee “come up with a report and a conclusion” that the Oñate couple, along with complicit employees of the DENR regional office, “be charged” for violation of the Forestry Act and environmental management laws for pollution.
“What immediate actions has the DENR taken to prevent further destruction of the environment in Palompom? I have called its attention to the offenses of the Oñate couple and the DBSN Farms Agriventures Corporation. The House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has started an inquiry into the firm’s illegal activities. I hope the DENR has done something to address the issues I have raised,” Gomez said.
Gomez said “the DENR leadership should not keep a deaf ear and a blind eye to the environmental crimes happening in Palompon and Albuera. It should act fast to stop the destruction of the municipalities’ water, soil and air resources.”
Gomez said his proposed House Resolution No. 778 details how the DBSN Farms Agriventures Corporation has been polluting the water, soil and air resources in the two municipalities where it is operating.
Oñate is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of DBSN, which has a 55,000-capacity chicken dressing plant in Albuera and a breeder farm in Palompon with a capacity of 88,000 chicken heads, the lawmaker said.
Among others, he cited as supporting data a recent assessment study made by the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Santo Tomas’ College of Science on the water quality, stream ecology, microbial analysis of the Albuera-Tinag-an stream system which showed that solid wastes from the DBSN dressing plant polluted the waters of Ormoc Bay. The plant’s solid wastes include dead chickens, chicken intestines, and other parts and materials.
He has likewise said that collected solid wastes from the Albuera plant were transported to Palompon and dumped on Lot 5150 in Barangay San Joaquin, which is located inside the perimeter of the Palompon Watershed and Forest Reserve that was established under Proclamation 212 issued by the late president Corazon Aquino in 1988.
In line with the House committee’s investigation, Gomez has recommended that the panel file a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman for blatant violations of land use and environmental management laws in the Palompon and Albuera municipalities.
Aside from the filing of charges, he has also asked the DENR to cancel the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued to DBSN “right away because of the pollution happening as revealed in the test.”
He likewise suggested that the DENR “excavate the dumpsite” where the solid wastes have been dumped and start clean-up operations.
The former mayor of Ormoc City also urged DENR Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga to “transfer all the heads of the different offices of the DENR Region 8 to other regions,” pointing out that over familiarity between the DENR employees and the local governments have resulted to the personnel’s complicity with the illegal acts.
He also recommended that the Landbank of the Philippines “cancel loans in the name of Ramon and Lourdes Oñate” and file an estafa case against them and the DBSN Farm “for deceit.” He pointed out.