Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, Police Regional Office Central Visayas (PRO-7) chief, and Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City Police Office chief, lead the destruction of 102 confiscated illegal gambling machines at the CCPO in Camp Sotero Cabahug.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
AN ENVIRONMENTAL group is asking the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to let treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities handle the destruction of the confiscated illegal gambling machines instead of destroying them using axes and hammers.
Thony Dizon, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect said that the destruction of the illegal gambling machines (video karera and moli-moli machines) using axes and hammers is unsafe because these machines contain large quantities of hazardous substances.
“We understand that the confiscated TV sets are destroyed for good to prevent their reuse for illegal gambling activities, but this should not be in a manner that will scatter the lead and their other hazardous substances, which can endanger human health and the environment,” Dizon said in a statement sent to Cebu Daily News.
Hazardous substances present especially in old television units are lead, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, copper and mercury, and flame retardant chemicals.
The group quoting the World Health Organization (WHO) said that cadmium, lead and mercury are included in the top 10 chemicals of major public health concerns.
The substances pose a threat to both a person’s health and the environment.
“Burning, dumping and unsafe recycling of electronic waste can pose serious health risks to workers, residents and others due to the release of highly toxic pollutants, including dioxins and flame retardant chemicals that can disperse over long distances and remain in the environment for a long time,” Dizon added.
The group suggested that instead of breaking the illegal gambling machines with axes and sledgehammers, authorities should just let a treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities take care of disposing them.
Last week, about 102 video karera and moli-moli machines were destroyed led by Police Region Office (PRO-7) director Senior Supt. Noli Taliño and CCPO chief Senior Supt. Joel Doria.
The confiscated gambling machines came from Barangays San Nicolas, Mambaling and Duljo-Fatima.
Axes and sledgehammers were used to dismantle the illegal gambling machines.
Doria told CDN yesterday that they had already coordinated with a private disposal facility for the destroyed confiscated gambling machines.
Doria, however, refused to give any details on the statement.
CDN also called Engineer William Cuñado, chief of Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-7), yesterday but he could not be reached for comment.