“BURY them.”
This was the request of Acting Cebu City Mayor Margarita “Margot” Osmeña for the rotten meat inside 14 40-footer cargo containers stored for at least two years at the Cebu Port Authority (CPA) compound.
Osmeña learned of the problem after she received complaints from several commercial establishments in the area including Radisson Blu Hotel at the North Reclamation Area about the awful odor coming from the rotten meat which was already affecting their clients.
She said she called the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and learned about the rotten meat in 14 refrigerated containers, which was imported from Europe and abandoned by those who imported them because the transaction had no papers.
Osmeña said that she asked help from outgoing city Councilors Nida Cabrerra and Nestor Archival on how to deal with the situation.
She said exposure to rotten meat is unsafe.
“You can’t dispose (them) right then and there because people don’t realize how dangerous it is, if you dispose (them). Others will think that it’s just meat, they might just get it,” she said.
Because of the volume of the rotten meat, she said it is really a problem and the only way to dispose it is by burying it.
The CIP, however, said that a waste disposal plan had already been submitted by a service provider for the inter-agency to resolve the disposal of the rotten meat.
Edmund Leopoldo, CPA environmental division manager, said that the CPA, Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. (Opascor), Environmental Management Bureau will meet on Monday to come up with a plan to dispose the meat.
Lawyer Kenneth Sesante, chief of staff BOC port of Cebu, said that the only obstacle is the disposal site.
He said that they are still looking for a disposal site which complies with EMB standards.