Group joins protest vs flour mill in Naga

CEBU, Philippines — The Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) in the Visayas has joined the call of the residents in the City of Naga, Cebu to different government agencies to address the worsening foul odor caused by a flour mill located in Barangay South Poblacion.

The foul odor, according to PMCJ, resulted from the grains destroyed during the super typhoon Odette which has yet to be completely pulled out from the sixth silo of Asian Grains Corporation, a flour mill in Barangay South Poblacion, City of Naga, Cebu, more than a year since the typhoon struck.

The foul odor, accordingly, worsened because of the frequent rain affecting vulnerable members of the community, reaching as far as Barangay Tinaan and some portions of Barangay Inoburan.

Residents are complaining of headaches and fever, worsening asthma and other respiratory problems.

A dialogue between the affected residents and the said company representatives took place only last January 17, 2023 when the flour mill had already started emitting foul odor since November of last year.

PMCJ also said that the dialogue failed to address the concerns of the affected residents.

“No prior rapid appraisal conducted among residents on who needs immediate attention during periods when the foul smell intensifies, where to bring them in cases of emergency or temporary relief, and what medical and other needs are required by those severely impacted if an upsurge of the foul smell continues,” according to PMCJ’s letter to DENR-EMB.

PMCJ also claims that during the dialogue, “the company management refused to answer direct queries from the affected residents and stakeholders, such as: (1) whether or not the company has a Contingency Plan for extreme weather conditions such as the onslaught of super typhoons considering the factory and its silos are located in a coastal area, and (b) whether or not a Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) was established to monitor the environmental impact of the factory’s operation and its compliance with the Philippine EIS System requirements and other environmental laws.”

The company asked the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) to be allowed to operate 24/7 for 25 days to haul the destroyed grains from the sixth silo.

In an Affidavit of Undertaking, Stanley Go, general manager of Asian Grains, claimed that the company flour mill has six silos, all destroyed by Odette. While they were allegedly successful in pulling out the grains from the five silos, the sixth silo’s suffered from structural integrity “enough to cause landslide-like damage to communities living nearby if the silo collapsed.” The tons of stored grain from the sixth silo are the source of the foul smell accordingly.

Each silo contains 16,000 metric tons (16 million kilograms) of grains, according to company sources who spoke during a dialogue conducted at Naga City Hall earlier.

Along with that, the company also started to conduct meetings and medical consultations in the sitios, but residents still had to bring to the Naga City infirmary to acquire the medicines.

With the lacks mitigation measure to address the environmental and health problems they are facing right now, the affected residents together with PMCJ through its Visayas coordinator Estela Patalinghug who happens to be from Inoburan, Naga as well had already written to DENR’s EMB-VII and DOH-VII to request both offices to conduct investigation and expedite actions.

The Freeman tried to get DOH-VII and EMB’s comments on this matter, but both DOH’s Dr. Jaime Bernadas and EMB’s Engr. Amancio Dongcoy were not available for comment.

Mayor Valdemar Chiong, for his part, however, told The Freeman that they are already taking action on this including the recent dialogue, etc.

Chiong understands the plight of the residents in the area and said, as he too can also smell the foul odor from his own residence (but which he did not say where), but also understands the side of the company.

“It’s force majeure, and nagsige na nag hakot karon and unya ako na ng gi-advisan..16 thousand metric tons nga trigo nga nabasa pag Odette unya naa nas sud…problema gyud na..Ako namang giestoryahan ang mga tawo, abot man gani nas amo sad,” Chiong said.

Chiong said, the foul odor is not prolonged and emits mostly when there is ongoing hauling.

“We also have to extend some consideration ba..Ako naman na silang gipa-meet together with the Asian Grains…16 thousand metric tons..considering lang nga bisan pila ka truck, let say sud sa usa ka truck 22 or 25 metric tons, if you says naay 20 trucks, that’s 500 metric tons a day and dili sayon ang pag retrieve,” said Chiong, saying they are monitoring the action taken.

No temporary shelter was offered by Chiong at the moment for those who cannot stand the foul odor anymore, since it’s not a whole day long but said, medicines are readily available in his office if needed. (FREEMAN)