Aluminum melting plant in Pasig ordered closed

The Pasig City police permanently closed down yesterday an aluminum melting plant believed to be the source of toxic fumes that killed a housewife and hospitalized more than 50 others Saturday night.

Pasig police chief, Superintendent John Sosito, also filed charges of operating without a permit against Jose Rolando Escaner, owner of the Denerik Trading located at 85 Urbano Velasco Avenue in Barangay Pinagbuhatan.

Sosito said two workers of Escaner, Norberto Guzman and Roger Padilla, testified that the firm had been operating despite the absence of a permit from the city’s Business Permit and Licensing Office. (BPLO).

"As far as I’m concerned, we didn’t even know that they were operating and if they had an environmental permit which is necessary for us to issue them a business permit," said BPLO chief Lilibeth Laracas.

Residents of Barangay Pinagbuhatan, who were affected by the gas poisoning, claimed the shop had been emitting toxic fumes since last year.

Before the poisoning incident, residents noted a truck passed by their barangay, which is under five feet of floodwater, and leaked an unknown type of acid. More than 50 residents inhaled the toxic fumes and complained of dizziness, chest pains and nose irritation. They were rushed to the Rizal Medical Center and one of them, Leonor Ailes, 41, died the next day.

Mayor Vicente Eusebio dispatched a four-man medical team to the area to determine the real cause of the poisoning. They were joined by experts from the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Poison Control Department of the Philippine General Hospital and the Safety Health Center of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

According to Sosito, the group promised to release their findings within three to four days.

Meanwhile, Escaner surfaced before Sosito yesterday and promised to cooperate with the investigation. "I’m morally convinced that my firm was not the source of the toxic fumes," Escaner was quoted by Sosito as saying.

Escaner admitted though that his firm is operating despite the absence of a permit. But he stressed that his business was shut down when the neighborhood was submerged by floodwaters brought by typhoon Seniang last Nov. 3. – Non Alquitran