BACOLOD City Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran appealed to the village chiefs to cooperate in the implementation of the “no segregation, no collection” policy.

Familiaran, chairman of Solid Waste Action Team (Swat), said Friday the village chiefs and councilmen should encourage their residents to practice waste segregation.

“Let’s cooperate and follow the law. It is our obligation to implement Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act,” he said.

Familiaran added that they are finalizing the list of violators in various villages to be submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The names of the violators will be forwarded to the DENR, then the DENR will issue notices to the barangays to impose the penalties to erring residents, he said.

Violators will be fined from P500 to P1,000.

Familiaran said that based on the monitoring of the Swat, Solid Waste Enforcement and Educators Team (Swet), and IPM-Construction and Development Corp. (IPM-CDC), the waste segregation compliance is very low.

On Tuesday, a resident of Barangay 29 was arrested for illegal dumping and was endorsed to Police Station 1 for a blotter report.

Familiaran said the violator was later released, but his name will be endorsed to DENR.

“This will serve as warning to Bacoleños to follow the law to avoid penalties and charges,” he said.

The vice mayor said he expects that by 2018, the waste segregation compliance will increase.