4 truck drivers nabbed for dumping garbage

Four garbage truck drivers were arrested after they were caught improperly dumping trash in Parañaque City Wednesday night.

Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, identified the arrested drivers as Sonny Nicolas, 36, who was driving a truck with plate number UER-517; Joseph Mangahas, 25, plate number TST-891; Santiago Enriquez, 26, plate number WLA-810; and Danilo Matias, 19, plate number THR-179, all residents of San Miguel, Bulacan.

The four were arrested by a roving group of barangay tanods who saw "paleros" or garbage men, unloading plastic bags of trash from the four big garbage dump trucks driven by the four at the Rodriguez Compound along Ninoy Aquino Avenue, in Parañaque at around 10 p.m.

The four "paleros" ran away upon seeing the Barangay tanods and some policemen.

Estilles said the garbage men were apparently using the cover of darkness in unloading the trash at a grassy vacant lot in the compound.

Upon interrogation, the four drivers revealed that the trash they were unloading had been collected in Taguig.

They refused to reveal the company that employs them.

However, sources told that The STAR that the garbage contractor of Taguig was IPM Transport Co.

Charges of violation of Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Ordinance 96-009 were filed against the suspects. – Rainier Allan Ronda