More than 90 percent of local government units in Negros Oriental failed to comply with the requirement of putting up a water treatment facility, especially for their slaughterhouse, environmental management specialist Mario Aragon of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said.

Among the 25 cities and towns in the province, he said, only the cities of Dumaguete, Bayawan and Bais, have such facility.

Republic Act 9275, or the Clean Water Act, mandates, among others, that all LGUs must have the facility to ensure that waste water, especially from the slaughterhouse, will be treated before it is disposed to the open, Aragon pointed out.

He added that the law took effect in 2005, but compliance among local governments is only about five percent thus far. He said the establishment should have been done immediately following the effectivity of the law.

Violators, Aragon said, are subject to penalty, however, his office is not entertaining punitive action against them. Instead, the DENR is continuously reminding the mayors and monitor compliance with the law, he said.

Although he refrained from giving specifics, Aragon said it is their regional office which has jurisdiction over violations. Some sugar milling companies in the province have also been penalized for violating environmental standards, he disclosed.

Aragon , however, said if ever a penalty is imposed, due process must observed.*RA

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