CEBU CITY, Philippines — Are the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) and the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) really the sources of stench that is bothering residents in Barangay Kalunasan, including the Langub Shrine in Barangay Guadalupe?
This will be the subject of the investigation that Governor Gwendolyn Garcia will be asking the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) to undertake following complaints of residents that the Cebu City Jail and the CPDRC have been the source of the pungent smell that they fear will be the cause of diseases in the area.
Garcia, in an interview on Thursday, July 18, 2019, said she will direct the PEO to evaluate if there are infrastructural lapses in the jail and of take the necessary actions to address it.
Read more: Cebu City dads to look into complaint over foul smell from city, provincial jails discharges
Lawyer Eugene Orbita recently sent a letter to the Cebu City Vice Mayor’s Office tackling their complaint on the foul odor caused by discharges coming from the city and provincial jails.
In his letter, Orbita alleged that the jails discharge their waste to the Kalunasan Creek, which traverses through the barangay and the Langub Shrine in neighboring Barangay Guadalupe.
“I will have to have that checked whether that is coming from CPDRC or BJMP kay nagtapad baya nang duha. I will ask the engineering department to render a report to me kung kami ba ang responsabli gyud or ang pikas,” Garcia said.
(I will have to have that checked whether the stench is coming from CPDRC or BJMP because they sit on adjacent lots. I will ask the engineering department to render a report to me if it was CPDRC or the Cebu City Jail that cause the stench.)
The Capitol manages the CPDRC while the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) runs the Cebu City Jail.
“This was already a problem before and when I was governor, I had directed the engineering department to do the necessary interventions in terms of infrastructures nga ang wastewater always ma-prevented gyud ang seepage o pagpadung sa waterways (so the wastewater will always be prevented from going to the waterways),” Garcia said. /bmjo