60 charged for solid waste violation

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Team has started filing criminal charges against violators of environmental laws in Cebu City, mostly for violation of the solid waste management ordinance.

CESET last week filed criminal complaints before the City Prosecutor’s Office against 60 violators who did not comply with the garbage law and other environmental policies. All violators were cited in the month of April.

Eric Surban, CESET officer-in-charge, said that they will sue at least 20 violators every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

For the month of April alone, there were 1,289 violators recommended for filing. They are those who refused to enter a compromise agreement with the city within seven days from the day they were issued a citation ticket.

Out of the total 1,527 violators last April, only 168 made compromises, 14 rendered community service, 56 received a warning and 1,289 ignored the law.

Surban said that they will sue at least 60 violators per week until all 1,289 violators are charged.

CESET tightened their enforcement of the environmental laws after the Sanitary Landfill in Inayawan was closed for dumping last April 1.

The landfill no longer accepts garbage for dumping but accepts segregated waste for processing at the Material Recovery Facility which is still located at the area.

The “no segregation, no collection” policy was implemented to mandate the people to segregate their waste, recycle what could be recycled and only dump the residuals.

Almost 300 Barangay Environmental Officers are deployed in all barangays to monitor compliance.

Aside from CESET personnel and BEOs, the city government has also deputized the barangay tanods and the police to help in apprehending the violators of the environmental ordinances of the city government. (FREEMAN)