Green advocates note the thick, dark smoke coming from this facility at Manila North. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
The crematorium of the Manila North Cemetery has been operating without a permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the last two and a half years.
This was revealed on Sunday by the waste and pollution watchdog EcoWaste Coalition, which had notified Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada of the cemetery administration’s violation of the 1999 Clean Air Act, or Republic Act No. 8749.
EcoWaste said the crematorium’s permit to operate issued on May 13, 2009, by the DENR Environmental Management Bureau’s (EMB) Metro Manila office had expired on May 13, 2014.
As of Friday, the EMB said, the crematorium inside the sprawling 54-hectare public cemetery still had no valid permit to operate.
Reached for comment, Daniel Tan, head of Manila North, admitted the lapses but said he was not aware that the permit had already expired before he assumed office in 2014.
Tan said he had asked his staff to start the process for the permit renewal, which they are expected to accomplish this week.
Photos taken on Oct. 25 and Nov. 5 showed thick dark smoke coming out of the crematorium’s stack.
EcoWaste said the emissions directly affect not only the vendors in the vicinity but also commuters on Blumentritt Road, Dimasalang Street and Aurora Boulevard; residents of Barangay 370 and surrounding neighborhoods, as well as the people at Chinese General Hospital and Chinese General Hospital Colleges.
The EMB National Capital Region told EcoWaste that the crematorium, by operating a furnace without a valid permit and failing to submit self-monitoring reports of its emission rates, violated the Clean Air Act’s Rule 19, Section 1.
The facility also violated Rule 25, Section 2 for emitting dense black smoke.
The facility also violated DENR Administrative Order 2013-22 for failure to register as a hazardous waste generator, and DENR Administrative Order 2014-02 for failure to designate a pollution control officer.
EcoWaste reminded Estrada that he signed the Clean Air Act when he was President in 1999. The law requires all sources of air pollution to secure a permit prior to operating.
“Studies have shown that crematories discharge environmental pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, dioxins, furans, formaldehyde and mercury vapor, as well as minuscule particulate matters,” EcoWaste national coordinator Aileen Lucero said in a letter to the mayor.
“We are particularly concerned that mercury, a neurotoxin, is being emitted into the atmosphere from the dental amalgam of deceased persons being cremated,” she added. —WITH AIE BALAGTAS SEE