‘What should be good for the goose should also be good for the gander.’
PURSUANT to its mandate to safeguard the environment, with particular focus on Manila Bay, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has initiated a probe and issued a notice of violation against the owner of a ship which was established to be the source of untreated wastewater dumped in the bay.
The transgression of environmental laws and ordinances came to light when employees of the City of Manila’s Department of Public Services observed a yellowish trail of discharge in the water. The DPS conducts daily cleanup of Manila Bay’s shoreline along Roxas Boulevard, from the Rizal Park area to the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
On further investigation, environmental experts of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Metro Manila Development Authority affirmed that the discharge was emanating from M/V Sarangani’s cooling system.
A notice of violation coming from the office of the DENR secretary serves as an opportunity for the suspected violator to air his or her side, so that a proper investigation may be conducted by the authorities. At the outset, DENR officials were able to determine that the effluent fecal coliform count and the oil and grease content in the water samples taken were over the allowable levels.
After the forthcoming probe of the incident and if found liable, the shipowner will have to face charges and pay fines for violating stringent provisions of the Clean Water Act of 2004, the Marine Pollution Decree of 1976, Fisheries Code of 1998 and current regulations of the Philippine Ports Authority. An undersecretary of the DENR said the violator faced a daily fine ranging from P10,000 to P200,000 from the start of the discharge until the affected area is cleaned up.
It is just proper that the DENR and probably the courts impose this kind of fine on the shipowner-violator. This leads us to recall what Rep. Lito Atienza, a former DENR secretary, had been harping about. Atienza said that in 2019, the Supreme Court penalized Metro Manila’s water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad, along with the Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System, with P1.84 billion in combined fines due to their failure to connect households and business establishments to a sewage system, and their lack of wastewater treatment facilities, thereby polluting Manila Bay every minute of the day. The fine and the mandamus of the High Tribunal have remained unheeded, Atienza said.
What should be good for the goose should also be good for the gander. This, the DENR should be reminded of.
