A resident of Barangay Pitalo, San Fernando shows the murky waters of Lacaron Spring. The spring is located near the pile of coal that residents blame for their respiratory problems. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
Chona Panilagao, administrator of Inchland Academy in San Fernando town in southern Cebu, has been experiencing shortness of breath since January.
She blames it on the pollution caused by coal dumped in a private property about 25 meters from the school in Barangay Pitalo, San Fernando.
Wilma Fuentes, 60, and a resident of Barangay Inoburan in Naga City, said she has had several asthma attacks in the last two months.
Fuentes, who waits for her grandchildren at the Inchland school canteen daily, also blames the pile of coal.
“Nabalaka ko para sa akong duha ka apo. Inig lunch time, mokaon sila sa abog (I’m worried for my two grandchildren. They ingest the dust during lunchtime),” she said.
“Ang abog sa amoa kay whitish tungod sa semento. Ang diri sa eskwelahan murag itom sa tahal sa pencil. Way undang akong hubak,” she added.
(Where I live, the dust is whitish because it comes from cement. In this school, it’s as black as pencil lead residue. I have been suffering from asthma.)
Inchland principal Violeta Mosugi had sent a letter to the Environmental Management Bureau regional office (EMB-7), expressing concern over the ill-effects of coal on the health of the students. A copy of the letter was furnished to Cebu Daily News in February.
In her letter, Mosugi asked EMB-7 to inspect the pile of coal. Panilagao said their school principal never received a call or any form of feedback from EMB-7. The letter was received by the agency on Nov. 4, 2015.
EMB-7 Director William Cuñado, however, said a team had inspected the property. He was still awaiting for the team’s report as of yesterday.
He said the lot owner is liable for not getting a permit to store coal there and may be fined P50,000.
Residents of Barangay Pitalo posted photos of the pile of coal on social media to prod barangay officials to act on the matter.
Barangay Captain Ludovico Iligan said the pile of coal sits in a property owned by Anseca Development Corp., a Minglanilla-based company engaged in quarrying and mine design, among others.
“Dili angay nga kahadlokan. Raw coal man na siya dili man na coal ash (They shouldn’t be worried about it. That’s raw coal, not coal ash),” he said.
The property is fenced with barbed wires and bamboo poles. At the back of the property is the sea.
CDN called and sent an email to Anseca chief operating officer Dino Selma to get his comment. As of yesterday, there has been no response.
About 10 meters from the property is the Lacaron Spring, where the water is no longer clear, residents complained.
In a phone interview, Iligan said the stockpile is diminishing.
“Sige na nila gikuha. Nigamay-gamay na gani (They have been hauling it out of the property. The pile is smaller),” he told CDN.
Iligan said hauling operations were being conducted round-the-clock.
When CDN visited the site at 1:28 p.m. on Tuesday, a bulldozer loaded some of the coal on a dump truck.
A cloud of ash billowed from the pile and was blown towards the school and the residential area nearby.
Iligan said the coal was dumped in the area in November 2015. He was told by the officer-in-charge of the property that the coal will only be stored there for two months.
After two months, however, Iligan said the officer-in-charge asked for an extension, saying the companies that were supposed to get the coal ash had operational problems.