FOR DUMPING WASTE INTO MACTAN CHANNEL: Brgy. still denies clearance to seaweed processing firm

Local News


by Jose P. Sollano
February 3, 2005

Barangay officials of Looc, Mandaue City have remained firm in denying clearance to FMC Marine Colloids, a seaweed processing firm operating in the barangay, for allegedly continuing to discharge waste into the Mactan Channel.

In her letter to Mandaue City administrator Serafin Blanco, Looc barangay captain Editha F. Cabahug said they would maintain their position to deny barangay clearance to FMC.

According to Cabahug, their research and investigation team pointed out that FMC had been using a portion of the Mactan Channel and along the cost of the barangay as its stabilization (anaerobics) ponds for 25 years.

She claimed that FMC does not have the necessary area for stabilization lagoon.

Cabahug cited an order dated Dec. 12, 2002 of the Pollution Adjudication Board which directed FMC to undertake the clean-up operation in the Mactan Channel following the discovery of waste in the vicinity of their submarine discharge pipe in their barangay.

She added that as member of the Multi-Partite Monitoring Team, “we noted that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources hastily accepted the initial report of Silliman University Marine Laboratory that there were no black mounds without even waiting for the final report.”

“We in our barangay know that there is huge deposit of black toxic sediment in the area and we do not have to pay anybody to disprove it,” Cabahug said.

Cabahug recalled that on May 7, 2003, officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources directed FMC to discontinue discharging its wastewater effluents through the submarine pipe.

But FMC was found to have been continuing to discharge its waste through the same submarine pipe.

The barangay, according to Cabahug, wants the submarine pipe cut so that effluents and its effect on water as well as its impact on the environment can be assessed.

She said that her office has been receiving numerous complaints about the discharging of the company’s waste effluents into the Mactan Channel over the years.

Cassava snack kills 30 pupils

Local News
by Jose P. Sollano
March 10, 2005


A delicious snack prepared from a poisonous root crop yesterday brought unexpected tragedy to a small elementary school in the sleepy town of Mabini in Bohol, killing at least 30 young children and taking ill at least nearly 70 others.

Mabini Mayor Stephen Rances, interviewed on Radio DYAB last night, identified the culprit as a soft glutinous snack sold during morning recess called “ inday-inday, “ whose main ingredient is flour made from the root of the cassava plant.

If prepared properly, cassava flour is actually responsible for a wide variety of delicious snack items. If not, a toxic substance found in its bark is converted to lethal cyanide once ingested into the body ( see separate story on page 2 ).

Nearly a third of the entire student population of about three hundred of the San Jose Elementary School in barangay San Jose, 15 kilometers away from the Mabini town proper, partook of the snack peddled at recess by at least two vendors outside the school.

Rances confirmed the deaths of at least 27 of them but an ABS-CBN report said the number of fatalities reached 30. He said at least 68 others were taken ill, some gravely and still fighting for their lives in several outlying hospitals, Mabini not having a hospital of its own.

Almost all of the victims were very young, their ages ranging from 7 to 13.

Authorities identified the dead at the Lita Cutamora Clinic in the municipality of Ubay, two towns from Mabini, as Kelvin Salaum and her sister Anarose, both aged 9; Mitchell Gambuta, 8; Wilfredo Luyong, 7; Vicente Balleceren, 8; Fredo Fernandez, 7; Jom Lumutos, 13; Cirila Julita Sanchez, 11; Viemra Mae Cual, 8; and Aisa Tuyogan, 9.

The dead at the Don Emilio del Valle Hospital, also in Ubay, were identified as Melvin Lugay, 7; Estela Fe Salaum, 12; Van Roly Lingopa, 7; Nilo Marcelito, 9; Juanito Jimampas, 9; Aisa Vallecer, 9; and Sammy Moralla, 9.

Of five students rushed to the Governor Celestino Gallares Hospital in Tagbilaran City, two died minutes after arrival but their identities were not immediately known.

One of the two vendors who sold the snack was also hospitalized after tasting the food item on learning that a number of students had been taken ill.

Mayor Rances said the students began to develop stomach ache and nausea after eating the snack and many began to vomit.

The mayor said frantic teachers, parents and even soldiers assigned to the town rushed the children to hospitals but most were already dead by the time they arrived, suggesting the degree of toxicity of the substance found in cassava, locally known as “ balanghoy. “

Rances assured the relatives of the victims that the municipal government will shoulder all medical and burial expenses.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit assured Rances health experts will be in the town by today.

Acting Bohol Governor Julius Caesar Herrera said he has also directed doctors at the provincial health office to coordinate with municipal health officials in giving immediate assistance to the victims.

Doctors at the Don Emilio del Valle Hospital confirmed the children died of cyanide poisoning. - With Mitchelle P. Calipayan