As people returned to their homes after visiting their departed loved ones last November 1 and 2, tons of garbage were left behind in Cebu City’s public cemeteries.
The Department of Public Services (DPS), yesterday, began collecting trash from three major public cemeteries in Cebu City, yielding at least 15 tons of garbage so far.
DPS Officer-in-charge Roberto Cabarrubias said that the garbage was collected from the cemeteries of Calamba, Carreta and Pardo. At least 15 tons of garbage has been collected from the three major cemeteries in Cebu City.
“Starting around 2 a.m. (November 3), four teams have been deployed to start cleaning up the Calamba and Carreta public cemeteries,” said Cabarrubias.
Cabarrubias said that twelve tons of garbage were collected from the two cemeteries after they were cleared on Friday morning.
Pardo Catholic Cemetery was last to be cleared yesterday afternoon, which yielded 3 tons of garbage.
According to Cabarrubias, most of the wastes left inside the cemeteries were plastic containers and withered flowers left in tombs.
An average of three tons of garbage was also collected daily from sidewalks leading to the cemeteries from October 31 to November 2, he said.
“Gamay ra to kay di man gyud kasulod atong trucks sa minteryo ( on October 31 to November 2) tungod sa kadaghan sa tawo, pero nagpa-roving gyud mig mokuha sa basura (We were able to collect only a few as we could not get into cemeteries because of the huge number of people there, but we had roving garbage trucks collecting the trash from sidewalks),” Cabarrubias said.
The DPS head acknowledged the help of Barangay Environment Officers (BEOs) in minimizing the volume of garbage inside the cemeteries.
Meanwhile, fourteen citation tickets were issued to violators of the Anti-littering and Anti-smoking in public ordinances or City Ordinance 1361 and City Ordinance 2241, respectively.
Anna Maria Cinco, a DPS member assigned at the City Environment and Natural Resources Offices (Cenro), said the citation tickets were issued because the city did not lack in reminding the public to heed the two ordinances through several signs posted near trash bins and different parts of the cemeteries.
For first-time offenders, violation of CO 1361 carries a penalty of P500 or community service, while the Anti-smoking violators need to pay P1,000 or render community service.
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