By Christine F. Herrera | Posted on July 02, 2012 | 1:16am
Photographs of the mountains of coal near Manila Bay taken by Environment Department staff on Friday and furnished the Manila Standard showed that the workers handling the coal are being exposed to toxic substances because there is no conveyor that would safely unload the coal from the barges.
Not even a hanky. Coal workers do not wear protective gear.
Unknown to Environment Management Bureau Director Roberto Sheen, some members of his team furnished theManila Standard with the pictures but asked not to be named out of fear they would lose their jobs.
“We want the truth to come out. We will not allow ourselves to be party to any coverup,” a member of Sheen’s team told the Manila Standard.
Malacañang has ordered The Environment and Transport Departments to explain the mountains of coal near Manila Bay and why those were being allowed there.
Agham Rep. Angelo Palmones has accused Environment Secretary Ramon Paje of allowing businessman Reghis Romero to stockpile the coal at the Harbour Centre Port Terminal and the Manila Harbour Center.
He said the mountains of coal were polluting the air and waters of Manila Bay in violation of a Supreme Court writ protecting the bay.
Sheen on Saturday defended Romero, saying his environment compliance certifi cate allowed him to stockpile 40,000 metric tons of coal and not 40 metric tons, which was a typographical error.
Based on the photographs, the coal on the bay was being unloaded to 10-wheeler trucks from the barges manually, and the workers unloading it were not wearing protective gear.
The workers were shoveling the coal to the stockyard without masks or gloves in violation of the Supreme Court’s writ protecting the bay and some labor laws, Sheen’s team said.
Some of the workers were wearing boots, but others were wearing only slippers and using only handkerchiefs to protect them from the coal dust, the team said.
The same set of photographs were also given to Palmones, prompting him to decide to fi le a resolution on Monday directing the House committees on labor, ecology, transportation and health to investigate Romero.
“Why are these government agencies allowing unscrupulous businessmen like Reghis Romero to expose our people and environment to harm and danger when he can afford to provide them with protective gear since he makes billions out of his port business?” Palmones said.
“Why are they allowing Romero to mock and undermine our laws, particularly brazenly disregarding the Supreme Court writ of Kalikasan that comes with it a continuing mandamus?”
A continuing mandamus means Manila Bay must be kept clean as long as the bay.
Sheen’s staff said the mountains of coal were also a fi re hazard because a spontaneous combustion was waiting to happen in the absence of sprinklers and other safety measures.
The Manila Standard has tried but failed to reach Romero for comment.
Manila Harbour Centre has said that, as a port, it has a permit to handle coal and other breakbulk cargo materials of its concessionaires.
Sheen refused to comment on the photographs taken by his men and did not return the calls made by the Manila Standard even as he promised to do so after his “meetings” on Sunday.
His team said he went against the department’s legal advise not to attribute the violation to a mere “typographical error.”
But Sheen said Romero was allowed to stockpile coal as much as 40,000 metric tons and not 40 metric tons as indicated in his ECC.
“We went to the Manila Harbour Center Port Terminal and confi rmed the presence of the coal stockpiles,” Sheen had said. “But the port terminal is allowed to do so. We found out that it was us that made a mistake and committed a typographical error in the environment compliance certifi cate.
“We have rectifi ed the typographical error. The 40 metric tons was a mistake. It should have been 40,000 metric tons.”
Angered by what he learned and saw from the photos, Palmones directed the Environment Department to immediately suspend Romero’s coal mountain operations pending the result of investigation. source
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