SEWERAGE TREATMENT NEEDED FOR BUSINESS PERMIT RENEWAL IN DAVAO

The Davao City government has shown it is serious about its commitment to the environment when it made the submission of sewerage treatment plant design a requirement for the renewal of business permit.

“It is necessary for the City Government of Davao to enact measures in order to promote its citizens’ health and safety and enhance their right to a balanced ecology,” Mayor Inday Sara Duterte said in Executive Order No. 39, series of 2018.

EO No. 39, signed by the mayor on December 28, 2018, is an order that “requires shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, establishments and other similar business establishments within Davao City to submit their sewerage treatment plant design plans.”

It also orders concerned establishments to “declare all service contractors or subcontractors engaged to handle their establishment’s construction, renovation, maintenance, plumbing and septic tank cleaning, termite and pest control handling and the like.”

EO No. 39 indicated that the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9275) encourages all businesses to use water quality management systems equipment, such as, but not limited to, wastewater treatment collection and facilities.

“It is imperative for the City Government to exert efforts in ensuring efficient and effective implementation of the State’s environmental laws and compliance to the same,” Mayor Inday Sara said.

The executive order, which will take effect immediately, requires such establishments to submit to the city the following documents: sewerage treatment plant (STP) design plans adopted by the establishment, list of service contractors or subcontactors commissioned by establishments to provide services relative to construction, renovation, maintenance, plumbing and septic tank cleaning, termite and pest control handling.

The EO also mandates all plumbing, septic tank cleaning, termite and pest control handling service contractors to submit a certification stating the area where dislodged wastes are disposed of.

EO No. 39 will be implemented by the Business Bureau, in coordination with the City Engineer’s Office (CEO), City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), and City Health Office (CHO). CIO