CESET sues 131 violators of waste segregation policy

CEBU, Philippines - At least 131 households and garbage truck drivers are facing criminal complaints before the Cebu City Prosecutor's Office for violation of the Republic Act 9003, otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Cebu  City  Environment Sanitation and Enforcement Team chief Grace Luardo said the 124 household respondents refused to segregate their garbage while the seven truck drivers of the Department of Public Services collected the unsegregated wastes.

The city government has been strictly implementing the "No Segregation, No Collection" policy in compliance with the law.   There were more than 100 drivers and loaders that were apprehended early this month for transporting unsegregated trash to the private landfill in Consolacion.

The 124 erring households were among the 376 households issued with citation tickets starting on March 1 and required to settle within seven days upon the issuance of the ticket. However, the respondents allegedly failed to settle their obligation.

The citation ticket serves as a compromise agreement wherein violators are required either to render a community service for one day or pay P500 fine.

"Ni-file mo og case (last Wednesday) so that people would know that we are really serious in implementing the law, for them not to take it for granted," Luardo said.

"This serves as warning. Sayon raman pagtuman sa balaud kinahanglan lamang og saktong disiplina sa kaugalingon nga dili pataka og labay sa basura ug paglimpyo sa tugkaran within 5 meters and proper garbage segregation," she added.

Mayor Michael Rama has directed CESET to strictly implement RA 9003, which required households and commercial establishments to segregate wastes from recyclable or reusable items.

Under the waste segregation policy, the biodegradable wastes are collected from homes every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, while the non-biodegradable wastes are gathered every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

CESET is the enforcement arm of  the city that implements punitive measures and provisions of the anti-littering ordinance.

The team was created under Executive Order (EO) 00-45 issued by then mayor Tomas Osmeña and is given the power to apprehend and penalize those who will be caught violating environmental policies. — /FPL (FREEMAN)