Monday, August 25, 2008 CH seek fines for dirty surroundings
WITH dengue posing great danger to the lives of their constituents, two Cebu City councilors have proposed penalties for those who fail to clean their vacant lots and do not properly dispose off unused and discarded tires.
Councilors Gerardo Carillo and Christopher Alix asked that first time offenders be made to pay P500. Those who commit the violation again face a P5,000 fine. Third-time
violators face a P5,000 fine plus one year imprisonment.
If the violator is an establishment, the two officials proposed that the sanitary permit be confiscated by introducing two amendments to City Ordinance No. 0676 or the City Sanitation Code.
“It shall be the duty of every owner, lessee, agent, or any other person given the charge of any lowland or premises which is vacant or having tall weeds, stagnant water, or small ponds to put the same in sanitary condition by cutting the tall weeds, filing up the low places, or pumping out the stagnant water, and construction drainage
facilities at their own expense,” read the section 3.3 of the proposal.
The city already spent resources draining up ponds inhabited by and used as breeding places of mosquitoes and want the citizens to do their part.
Section 3.4 of the proposal mandates that owners, drivers, chauffeurs or those in charge of vehicles, horse-drawn rigs, and other modes of transportation to maintain their units and to properly dispose off tires so water will not accumulate and stagnate.
Used tires, many used as roof weights and just exposed to the elements, often get filled up by rainwater that is difficult to pump out.
From January to Aug. 18, 883 dengue cases were already reported in the city. The figure is 23.66 percent higher compared to just 714 for the same period last year.
City officials, however, are hopeful that cases this year will not be as high as that in 2007 despite the onset of the rainy season.
Dengue cases from January to June last year showed a decreasing trend, but rose at least three times starting in July to December.
The same decreasing trend was observed from January to June this year; after the end of July, however, the number of cases (104) was even lower compared to that of June (112).
July is supposed to be the start of the big increase in dengue cases, which so far claimed the lives of 33 people this year.
But compared to July 2007, which recorded 220 cases, July this year showed a more than 100 percent decrease in the number of dengue incidents reported.
And while 352 cases were recorded in August 2007, only 33 cases have been recorded so far from Aug. 1 to 18 this year.
This prompted Mayor Tomas Osmeña two weeks ago to announce a “strong reversal” of dengue incidents, which he credited to the continuous information dissemination on the dangers of the illness. (RHM)
