By ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
ON APRIL 8, the Lucio Tan-led Victorias Milling Company (VMC) showcased to the local media its innovative project aimed at addressing the pollution concern involving its controversial distillery plant in Barangay Pursima, Manapla, Negros Occidental.
The project is a man-made lagoon – VMC’s newest catch basin for its distillery plant’s waste water. It’s lolling within a 77,566-square meter land area with a five-meter height from deep to the top-end of the concrete wall.
Too, it’s part of the firm’s P200-million commitment for an environmental upgrade in the area.
It’s totally different from the controversial five natural lagoons used by its former lessee, IPI (International Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated), and currently the root of the pollution brouhaha in Purisima. The Save Purisima Movement (SPM) nixed the distillery plant by branding as “culprit” of both air and water pollution in Manapla and Cadiz areas.
SPM continuously claims that wastewater discharged by the distillery plant and coursed through the five natural lagoons is the main source of air and water pollution. Also, because of unintentional breakages or seepages due to force majeure like typhoon and flood, an overflow of wastewater from the natural lagoons also contaminated the adjacent Sicaba river in Cadiz. These made VMC distillery plant a “hot entity” in northern Negros for three years now.
VMC regained the distillery operations from IPI sometimes in 2010-2011. Then, it injected gradual improvements using P120-million fund for its first phase of re-operations in 2016. From then on, and with the help of its sister company, Asian Alcohol in Pulupandan town, it started to produce rectified spirit alcohol.
But everything wasn’t “walk in the park”. VMC’s “headache” in Purisima started with the birth of SPM three years ago.
AIN’T ‘NIP IN THE BUD’
To understand deeper the company’s newest endeavor, which I believe ain’t “nip in the bud”, I took time to sit down (for a one-on-one interview) with Linley Retirado, VMC’s chief manufacturing officer, on Monday, April 18.
Well, I was a little bit surprised to see in person this soft-spoken VMC top honcho. Then, I was really amazed when he started talking technical terms but full of “magnetic sense” about this man-made lagoon.
However, to convert everything in layman’s understanding, I dwelled on simple terms relatable to ordinary folks.
To simplify, this man-made lagoon with the capacity of 56,000 cubic meters (of waste water) will be sustained via aeration system maintenance using the polyethylene distribution pipe(s). It’ll be hitting two birds with one stone – eliminate both the unwanted air and water pollution.
Questions: What is aeration? How can it kill bad odor from the lagoon?
Aeration, per the Oxford Languages, is an introduction of air into a material.
“When there’s air,” explained Dr. Josette La Hee, world-renowned senior environmental research consultant, “oxygen throughout the whole pond means aerobic bacteria can effectively breakdown organic matter, so, there are no pond or lake odors.”
La Hee’s article regarding aeration was published by www.vertexaquaticsolutions.com on Sept. 8, 2020.
So, VMC will be doing it now!
Next plan: Convert waste water into mixed (solid and liquid) fertilizers soonest.
As usual, VMC will distribute these mixed fertilizers to all Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries in Manapla for their sugarcane plantations free of charge still.
‘MORTAL SIN’
But what I admired most about Linley was when he started talking with “remorse”. He undressed himself from being a technical savvy-slash-executive guy to the “REAL HIM” as a human being.
And what really struck my attention was when he said: “Yes, may mga multiple discharges kami (before) but those were not intentional. We made dikes, but not so perfect. May mga seepages and cracks, but we’ve tried to correct. It’s part of our commitment to the people and environment in Purisima.”
“Kung baga, sa amon side, that is a ‘mortal sin’ to discharge waste water reserve,” he said.
Nevertheless, he stressed, “Basta maayo lang ang intensyon mo, maguwa gid na.”
Quite touching!
No qualms, no pretension!
Indeed, it was a message glazed with candidness, and highlighted by the kindest words (really) spoken from the heart.
An acknowledgement of corporate flaw is no ordinary deed.
RARE BUT REAL
But what Linley did, he simply revealed the “genuine heart and soul” of VMC in doing business, uplifting people’s lives and, at the same time, showing an utmost concern for the environment.
Revisiting VMC’s mission and vision, I can say, Linley is in the right trajectory. He put an “authentic corporate face” on VMC ‘s catchy branding philosophy: “We Nourish. We Power. We Fuel.”
Because how can you nourish, power and fuel people and communities amid jumble?
Linley’s courage in baring things beyond the untold stories made him a rare but real “corporate specie” worthy of emulation.
Saying, “we’re not perfect” is, somehow, a graphic of “human anatomy” with the brains and heart in it. Too, it’s an embraceable phrase of admission for common tao. It connotes humility and sincerity on the part of VMC towards its real intention even “beyond the promise” in doing business in Negros. Thus, expect public admiration to follow then.
Because the fact is, VMC’s man-made lagoon in Purisima is now part and parcel of the “test and taste” of the firm’s sincerity in making true to its commitment – striking a balance between doing business and protecting the environment per se.
American poet and critic Ezra Pound stated: “Technique is the test of sincerity.” On the other hand, English author and essayist Douglas Adams once said, “Give real service added by something which cannot be bought or measured with money.”
VMC through Linley is probably journeying to that.
‘MISCOMMUNICATION’
Furthermore, what made me appreciate Linley was when he confided that it was probably “miscommunication” that triggered the three-year-old VMC-SPM spat.
“And, modesty aside, I may not be the right person at the right time,” he quipped.
But it seems everything ain’t too late yet.
“We open our hands again, and we’re welcoming everybody,” he stressed, referring to the MMT (Multipartite Monitoring Team) by the VMC distillery plant.
MMT is composed of representatives from different groups of stakeholders.
Above all, it is as if Linley also “melted” someone’s heart when he said that the greatest lesson he ever-learned out of the well-publicized brouhaha is PATIENCE. Sans patience on their part, he underscored, probably VMC distillery plant has (already) gone too soon.
I remembered Japanese martial artist Morihei Ueshiba who’s known for his finest quote: “The ideal economy combines the spiritual and the material, and the best commodities to trade in are sincerity and love.”
Nice extract, considering that VMC distillery plant serves now as an economic backbone not just of Purisima and Manapla but of the entire Negros. Hence, valuing its existence with daily production of 110,000 liters of alcohol amid the coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic is prodigious.
It could be in contrast with SPM’s belief and thrust. However, everything good can be started anew with Linley’s simple line of appeal: “We want to hear from you (SPM), but please, hear from us!”
Uttered with sincerity and coming from the heart, it means a lot./PN
