Stronger penalties for waste disposal violations mulled
NEW YEAR, new strategy.
The waste management division (WMD) wrote and appealed to the Sangguniang Panlungsod to amend City Ordinance No. 1929-2009 or the Comprehensive Solid Waste Management program, specifically to amend the penalty clause that it believes to be too light and lenient.
Teddy Villamil Jr., said in an interview Monday that the existing fines – P300-first offense, P500-second offense, and P1000-third offense – are too small that residents are not taking the ordinance seriously.
The ordinance, he added, must also be amended to include in the penalty clause a list of community services which violators can choose from in lieu of paying fines or imprisonment.
Open dumping, open burning, littering, refusal to segregate garbage, and dumping wastes in the river are among the most common violations.
AMENDMENT
City Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez said the SP is ready to support the request but a study must first be undertaken if indeed the light fines are the causes of non-compliance.
Fernandez suggested that constructing material recovery facilities in all barangays might help in managing wastes or to begin using the engineered sanitary landfill in Urdaneta City and close the controlled dumpsite in Barangay Bonuan Gueset.
Dagupan failed to construct its own landfill after the land purchased for the purpose in 2002 by the administration of Mayor Benjamin Lim turned out to be already covered by the agrarian reform program. The city eventually lost the P16 million for the purchase.
Villamil said the rehabilitation of the controlled dumpsite will continue in the absence of another viable alternative, and implementation Operation Huli-Sita, Operation Kalampag, May Bigas sa Plastik na Basura, among others.
Meanwhile, WMD launched the “2012 NOW NA DAGUPAN! NO WASTE NA DAGUPAN!”, a renewed campaign and strategy for managing the city’s garbage.
Villamil said the program, which is under the ‘Basura Ko, Sagot Ko” flagship waste management program of the city, aims to improve waste management through reforms within the ranks, management, and policy.
Personnel reforms include the demand for more commitment from the workers and healthy working relationship among them. The workers are also expected to adopt the ‘Now Na’ attitude to immediately act on every job, and not later.
The goal for management is the more economical use of time and resources. (A. Fernandez, PIA-Pangasinan)
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