Keep crematory open, DENR asked
Manila City officials have promised to install pollution-control devices at the Manila North Cemetery crematorium as they asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to renew the facility’s operating permit.
An environmental nongovernment organization earlier found out that the public crematorium has been operating without a permit for the last two and a half years. It has also not been complying with air pollution regulations under the 1999 Clean Air Act, it said.
The crematorium’s permit to operate expired on May 13, 2014.
EcoWaste Coalition said the Manila City health department’s reply to the notice of violations issued by the DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)-National Capital Region on Nov. 29 was “encouraging.”
“We trust that all environmental control measures will be satisfactorily fulfilled to allow the crematory to resume its services in a manner that will not pollute the surroundings and harm the public health,”
EcoWaste national coordinator Aileen Lucero said.
Acting Manila health officer Benjamin Yson promised the DENR-EMB that “corresponding fees and penalties shall be paid” although he asked for a reduction in the penalties since the facility provides free cremation for indigent families.
Article continues after this advertisementHe also promised to register the facility as a “hazardous waste generator” and to install pollution control devices to bring down the crematorium’s stack emission to “acceptable levels.”
Article continues after this advertisement“The smoke stack’s height shall be made higher and the cleaning device shall be installed accordingly,” Yson said.
The Manila health department also said it would designate a pollution control officer to regularly submit monitoring reports on emission levels, also vowing to conduct “regular laboratory tests” to determine the crematorium’s pollution levels.
Lucero said Manila health officials should involve in the monitoring representatives from surrounding neighborhoods and buildings affected by the “thick dark smoke” emitted from the crematorium’s stack.
EcoWaste said the crematorium’s emissions directly affect vendors in the vicinity of the cemetery, commuters passing through Blumentritt Road, Dimasalang Street and Aurora Boulevard, residents of Barangay 370 and surrounding neighborhoods.
