G.R.
93891
Pollution
Adjudication board vs. Court of Appeal and Solar Textile Finishing Corp.
March
11, 1991
Respondent
Solar assailed the Ex parte Cease and Desist Order by petitioner Pollution
Adjudication Board on the ground that the former was denied due process and
that the degree of threat required for the said Order is remiss. Petitioner
reasoned that under PD No.984 Section 7(a), the Board has the legal authority
to issue ex parte orders to suspend the operations of an establishment when
there is prima facie evidence that such establishment is discharging
effluents or wastewater, the pollution level of which exceeds the maximum
permissible standards set by the NPCC.
RULING:
The
Court ruled in favor of petitioner.
The
Court held that the Board may issue the ex parte cease and desist order upon
prima facie evidence that the respondent corporation has waste discharge beyond
the allowable standards set by the NPCC (Sec5, Effluent Regulations of 1982 and
Sec7(a),PD 984). If it has not yet been
subject to the allowable standard, the Board may still issue ex parte cease and
desist order upon prima facie evidence that the effluent pose an
"immediate threat to life, public health, safety or welfare, or to animal
or plant life. The court held that the Board, as the government entity tasked
to determine whether the effluents of a particular industrial establishment
comply with or violate applicable anti-pollution statutory and regulatory
provisions, has the authority to issue the order as it may see fit. This is,
after all, allowed by law to address relevant pollution issues as an immediate
recourse.
