Sewerage treatment plan required for businesses permit renewal in Davao City

DAVAO City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte has issued an executive order requiring certain establishments to submit a sewerage treatment plant design before they can renew their business permits. “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,” Ms. Duterte said in Executive Order No. 39-2018, signed last Dec. 28. EO No. 39, which takes effect immediately, “requires shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, and other similar business establishments within Davao City to submit their sewerage treatment plant design plans.” It also orders 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.” The order 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. The EO takes its legal basis from the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 under Republic Act No. 9275. — Carmencita A. Carillo