CIDG SHUTS DOWN WASTE TIRE PROCESSING FACILITY, ARRESTS 2 CHINESE NATONALS IN PAMPANGA

BY KEVIN GALANG

CAMP OLIVAS, Pampanga — Joint operatives arrested two Chinese nationals and shut down an  illegal facility burning used tires to convert them into oil products in San Simon, Pampanga.

According to Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Regional Field Unit 3 chief Col. Grant Gollod, operatives from the CIDG Pampanga Provincial Field Unit, Regional Special Operations Group 3, and the San Simon police served  a search warrant on RP Oil  located inside the Golden Sun 999 Industrial Park in Bgy. San Pablo Libutad.

Arrested were alias  “Hong,” 60, owner and manager of the facility, and alias “Jiang,/2 32, listed as the operator and engineer of the warehouse.

Gollod said the operation stemmed from information provided by a confidential informant who reported that the facility was allegedly engaged in illegal tire pyrolysis operations, a process involving the burning of used tires to convert them into oil products.

The burning of used tires produced excessive smoke and dust emissions that affected nearby communities and posed respiratory health risks to residents. 

The complaints regarding the foul odor and smoke emissions were also raised on social media and by operators of nearby warehouses.

Investigation and verification conducted by authorities with the San Simon local government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau Region III, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Securities and Exchange Commission  revealed that the warehouse had no permit, clearance or license to operate a pyrolysis business.

Confiscated were various equipment and materials believed to be used in the illegal activity, including three tons of tire wire, 30 sacks of tire ash weighing about 600 kilograms each, 225 whole tires, 500 kilograms of cut tires, a loader truck, a forklift, an oil tanker truck, two cooling tower machines, two boiler machines, a dust collector machine, and an air filter machine, with the total value of P9.57 million.

Authorities said the two Chinese nationals failed to present valid working permits during the implementation of the search warrant.

The arrested suspects were brought to the CIDG RFU3 office for documentation and will be charged with violation of Republic Act 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990 as well as the Alien Registration Act.