Toxic waste dumped in Bulacan; 60 hospitalized
By Carmela Reyes
Inquirer
Last updated 04:17am (Mla time) 11/29/2006
Published on Page A1 of the November 29, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
MARILAO, Bulacan -- Farmer Carlos Clemente, 67, was awakened at 2 a.m. Tuesday by the rumbling of a truck leaving his farm. Minutes later, he and other residents of Barangay Prenza II and nearby villages were assailed by the stench of a chemical the truck had dumped in the area.
Some of them vomited, others almost fainted.
Before the morning was over, 60 people had been hospitalized, stricken with dizziness, nausea and chest pains, hundreds of others had fled their homes -- and the driver of the 10-wheeler tanker and his two helpers were held in police custody.
The village had fallen victim to what environmental experts suspected was a case of dumping of toxic chemical substances into an irrigation canal.
At least 20 of those hospitalized were children.
“It smelled awful,” Merlyn Aguilar, a local resident taken to a medical clinic, told a television station. “My nape ached, my chest hurt, then I suddenly collapsed.”
Benjamin Jacinto, head of a local rescue team, said: “The smell was so unbearable, we couldn’t sleep. Our neighbors rushed out and had to flee the area.”
The noxious stench forced about 1,200 people to flee the village of 3,000, officials said.
Villagers, their noses covered with handkerchiefs and some carrying infants bundled in blankets, fled their homes before dawn.
What seemed like an oil slick stretched for about 10 km from the irrigation canal where it was dumped, he said.
Police identified the tanker’s driver as Lope Reyes, 28, and his helpers as Allan Torres, 27, and Jose Arnaldo, 71.
Police said the tanker was owned by Evelyn Tomas of San Jose del Monte City.
Reyes said his team picked up the chemicals from Plasti Mer Manufacturing in Valenzuela City at 4 p.m. on Monday. The firm produces plastic products.
The driver said his team was instructed by a middleman named Ato to dump the substance in Prenza II. He said he did not know what exactly they were dumping.
Mayor Epifanio Guillermo said he would ask the police to look for the middleman, said to be a resident of Prenza II, so they could pinpoint the people behind the illegal dumping of the chemical.
Driver’s story
The panic in Marilao came two days after nine people were hospitalized in Makati City following exposure to noxious chemical fumes at San Isidro High School.
A storage cabinet in the school fell over, causing bottles of unidentified laboratory chemicals to spill and mix together.
Environment watchdog Greenpeace said in a statement that the Marilao incident showed the government’s failure to monitor toxic waste management operations.
Roused from sleep
“The Department of Environment and Natural Resources should crack down on these so-called waste handlers who clearly have no capacity to treat and manage toxic waste,” toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis said.
“The DENR itself is to blame for its dubious accreditation system for hazardous waste treatment companies,” Baconguis said. “The fact that dumping incidents like these continue to recur also betrays the government’s inability to effectively monitor such hazardous waste management operations.”
Doctors from UP, PGH
Marilao resident Mercy Remalta, 36, of Sta. Rosa I, said she was roused from sleep and felt shortness of breath. She said she almost fainted from the stench.
Other residents complained of dizziness and difficulty in breathing.
The victims were taken to a hospital in Sta. Maria town.
Dr. Joy Gomez, an official of the Bulacan public health office, said 20 of the victims were children.
Cecilia Fuellas, municipal health officer, met a team of doctors from the University of the Philippines and Philippine General Hospital to discuss preventive measures and treatment of affected residents.
Local officials said the tanker dumped what appeared like used oil in a creek and irrigation canal at Prenza II. The canal flows down to the Marilao River.
Traces of the black coagulated substance were seen in the Marilao River in Barangay of Sta. Rosa I and Lambakin.
Dr. Juvencio Ordoña, director of the Department of Health in Central Luzon, described the stench as “acidic.”
He said the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City and the Bulacan provincial government have sent a medical team to assess the health condition of residents.
Samples taken
Ordoña said it was best for residents along the banks of Marilao River to “temporarily get out of the area” to protect themselves from the stench.
The Coast Guard was trying to contain the contaminated water from flowing to the Bulacan towns of Meycauayan and Obando and toward Manila Bay, Ordoña said.
He said a team from the Environmental Management Bureau of the DENR had taken samples of chemicals for tests and results would be available after three days.
Residents said this was the first time that such an incident had happened in their village.
Edwin Quilates, Marilao’s chief of police, said the arrested men “will be charged with violating the Clean Air Act,” Reuters reported.
He said the oil-based chemical was thought to be used for cleaning up liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders. With reports from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse