By Maree V. Supnad
Taeko Company Ltd., based in Ulsan, South Korea, has brought its technology and expertise to the Philippines, offering waste water treatment that complies with the Clean Water Act in a bid to save the famed beach resorts of the country.
Taeko President and CEO Kwon-Seok Yang visited in the country recently to officially announce the availability of its technology and services through locally-registered company, EcoPure Tech Inc., which set up its office in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
EcoPure Tech is being managed by businessman and former Parañaque vice mayor Tomas “Jun” Banaga.
What EcoPure offers is Taeko’s state-of-the-art technology in waste water treatment which has never before been used in the country.
Last Friday, Yang, Banaga and their team introduced their water waste treatment system Mayor Aida Macalinao of Samal town, Bataan and representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) headed by Raul H. Mamac.
The mayor and the DENR officials were impressed by the presentation that further talks with local enterprises to use this new technology in Samal will be pushed. “We are very thankful to Taeko for helping us solve our once perennial problem of water waste treatment,” said Mayor Macalinao.
Macalinao said there will soon be a directive urging companies, poultry farms and other businesses operating in the town to avail themselves of this new technology to prevent the worsening of the waste water problem in the town.
Banaga said the technology fits the need of hotels, beach resorts, and other private companies that have a need for waste water equipment in compliance with the Republic Act No. 9275, the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.
“In fact, hotel owners from El Nido and Siargao led by Geoff Santos and Saar Geva had already availed of Taeko service for the immediate installation of the water waste treatment to avoid being sanctioned by the government,” said Banaga.
For Yang, he sees Taeko’s technology useful in saving many of the country’s famed beach resorts as well as the beauty and cleanliness of our seas.
Banaga cited as an example the 51 establishments identified by the DENR that operate on Boracay that face closure after being found to have no waste water treatment facilities and merely dump sewage into the sea.
DENR’s Mamac said that under the law, “establishments and households are mandated to dispose of their septic waste through a treatment facility.”