50 households fined as garbage scheme starts

Uncollected and unsegregated garbage still remains in some barangays as the Cebu City government implements the “No Segregation, No Collection” garbage policy on Friday.

NO SEGREGATION, NO COLLECTION POLICY

The Cebu City Environmental and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) started issuing citation tickets to residents who failed to comply with the “no segregation, no collection” policy yesterday.

As of Friday noon, CCENRO has imposed P500 fines and community service to at least 50 families in urban barangays in the city for not complying with the policy, said CCENRO head Nida Cabrera.

These families came from barangays Parian, Carreta, Lorega San Miguel, Kamputhaw, Cogon Ramos, and Lahug.

“At least dili na frustrating sa among side kay ang mga barangay naglihok na. So far gamay nalang barangay ang wala mo follow (of our policy) (At least now, it’s not as frustrating as before on our side since the barangays are now helping us enforce the policy. So far only few barangays still refuse to implement the policy),” Cabrera said.

Cabrera said that the first offense is a fine of P500, the second is P1,000 and the third offense is P3,000.

The violators will be given seven days to settle their penalties at CCENRO.

Cabrera said that 50 to 60 households are being visited by Barangay Environmental Officers (BEOs) per barangay to check if the households are having three receptacles — biodegradable, non-biodegradable, and recyclable.

Meanwhile, Tisa Barangay Captain and Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) President Philip Zafra said that there was no proper coordination with the barangays and CCENRO about the implementation of the policy.

“Problema gyud (first days of implementation of the policy). Usa pa way klaro ang coordination ang CCENRO and some barangays. And there are issues need to be resolve (In the first days of implementation of the policy, we encountered some problems. And there is no clear coordination between the CCENRO and some barangays. There are issues that are needed to be resolved),” Zafra said.

Zafra said that issues like the BEOs are not reporting to the barangays but to the Barangay Mayor’s Office (BMO), the problem with some garbagetrucks and the schedules especially since F. Llamas Street is now closed.

“Ang problema nato dili nato ma-assure nga mamaintain ang schedule (of the garbage collection) especially traffic going to Inayawan (Sanitary Landfill) (The problem is we cannot assure if we can maintain the schedule of the garbage collection especially considering the traffic in N. Bacalso going to the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill),” Zafra said.

But since the policy is now there being implemented, Zafra said that ABC would try to enforce it despite having issues that he thinks would need to be resolved.