Mayor Rama wants increase in fines for indiscriminate throwing of garbage in Cebu City

CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Residents and visitors in Cebu City should take the garbage ordinance of the city more seriously as Mayor Michael Rama has suggested increasing the city-imposed fines for violators to discourage the public from indiscriminately throwing garbage in the city.

Rama suggested this during the city hall’s early morning flag-raising ceremony on Monday, November 28, 2022. The flag-raising ceremony was also streamed live at the official FB page of the Cebu City Public Information Office (PIO).

Rama noted that while city hall employees from the Department of Public Services (DPS) and the City Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Team (CESET) do their jobs in maintaining cleanliness in the city, some people seem not to care at all about maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness of the city.

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“Ang pangutana, kanus-a man g’yod na sila muundang nga dili na sila maglabay? Mao na kinahanglan lingkuran nato na aron makahibawo ta unsay dapat natong buhaton. Wala na lay undang sige’g pangolekta…Ang pasabot, wala pa tay naabot nga usa ka sistema. We should have that put in place,” the mayor was quoted in a report from the Cebu City PIO.

The current penalty for indiscriminate throwing of trash in public places is P500, under City Ordinance 1361 or “An Ordinance establishing a system of Garbage Collection, imposing fees, therefore, and appropriating funds and for other related purposes.”

Rama then asked Councilor Joel Garganera, who sits as vice chairman of the city council’s Committee on Health, Hospital Services, and Sanitation, to fast-track in coming up with a system that would impose discipline on trash disposal even at the sitio and barangay level.

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Sought for comment, Garganera told CDN Digital that the committee is considering the mayor’s suggestion.

“Yes, we are considering it. In fact, we schedule a meeting with (councilor) Philip Zafra and other city hall departments like Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office, CESET, DPS, CTO, and the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) in order to get data re enforcement in fines collected in the past,” he told CDN Digital.

Part of Mayor Rama’s bid to make Cebu City Singapore-like is attaining cleanliness in the city.

Rama just returned from a seven-day “vacation” in Singapore, where he met with several government agencies to learn about their best practices.

Singapore is renowned for both its cleanliness and the extremely hefty fines it levies for littering.

/bmjo

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