Truck caught discharging human waste into manhole

CEBU, Philippines - A company engaged in cleaning septic tanks was fined P11,500 for unloading human waste into a manhole along H. Abellana Street in barangay Canduman last week in violation of the R.A. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

The Solid Waste Enforcement Office of Mandaue City said the company’s vehicle was seen in one of the residences at the Canduman Housing.

Barangay Councilor Dante Borbajo was driving his motorcycle when he saw the vehicle leave the residence. He said he saw it stop at a roadside in barangay Canduman where the truck driver lowered a tarpaulin.

Borbajo said the lowering of the tarpaulin while the driver and his assistant left the vehicle to have refreshments at a nearby eatery puzzled him.

He approached the vehicle, raised the tarpaulin, and found a flexible tube inside a manhole discharging human waste from the tank on the vehicle.

Borbajo immediately called Placido Jerusalem Jr., chief of the Solid Waste Enforcement team who immediately issued citation tickets to the owner of the company for violating at least four provisions of the R.A 9003.