Farm owner to answer Guba River issues

Minnie Yuvienco: Our dairy farm operations are sanitary.

The owner of a dairy farm in barangay Guba, Cebu City that was flagged by the local environment office for discharging wastewater into the Guba creek  said she will address all issues raised against her business  venture.

Minerva “Minnie” Yuvienco, owner of Yuvienco Farm, said she’s been trying to arrange a meeting with the complaining residents.

“There was one woman who complained to one of our workers about the odor when we sprinkle wastewater into our forage. But other than that we didn’t receive any complaint. Why don’t they approach us?” Yuvienco said.

The Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) earlier recommended to the Cebu City Council to direct the farm to install a wastewater treatment facility. Yuvienco, however, said she has  yet to receive a copy of the Cenro report.

“They visited us already and we explained to them what we’re doing. They just nod and don’t say anything. That’s not fair on my part,” Yuvienco said.

Yuvienco said they have been properly disposing the farm’s waste since 2008. She said cow dung  is placed in sacks and taken to a separate place where they are processed as fertilizer.

RIVER OR CREEK?

Yuvienco said they were unaware of any “Guba River” near their area. But Cenro chief Randy Navarro said there is a “Guba Creek” located one kilometer from the farm.

Yuvienco said City Hall should first conduct a thorough study if a wastewater treatment facility is needed.

“We already have cesspools to store our wastewater so why do we need to put a treatment facility?” she said.

She said no  wastewater is  flushed out to  canals or creeks because this is used to  water the farm’s  napier grass to feed the cows. A treatment facility is  expensive, Yuvienco said.

“It’s a little difficult for us. We can’t make any money. We’d lose P200,000 a month. But we just continue operations because we want to help the poor. What makes us happy is giving them jobs,” she said.

There are 40 people employed and living within the vicinity of the farm, she said.

“We are dealing with milk, it’s not a joke. It absorbs smell. We are very sanitary in our operations,” she said.

Yuvienco, who is currently in Iloilo, said she’ll go to City Hall to clear matters once she gets back to  Cebu by Monday next week.

RELATED STORY:

Dairy farm told to install wastewater treatment facility to avert pollution