THE Mandaue City Government has stopped the operation of a private company for its allegedly irregular disposal of plastic wastes from Korea in a private lot in Barangay Tingub.
Placido Jerusalem, assistant officer-in-charge of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), said they issued a citation ticket to a company named Envirotech after they violated two city ordinances for making the lot a dump site and for dumping wastes there without permit.
Cenro personnel led by Jerusalem went to the area last Tuesday after Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing got the information about the activity in Tingub, particularly near the Butuanon River.
Based on the initial information that they got, Jerusalem said, the company started their operation last Jan. 22.
“Ang istorya deposit area lang para himoon kuno nga PVC. Bahalag unsaon na nila, but akong tan-aw sa lugar ilang gihimong dump site. Basura man gyod siya. Second, wa silay permit (Based on the data that we gathered, the lot was used as a deposit area of shredded plastics as a component of making a PVC pipe. Whatever their purpose is, we see it as a dump site because those are wastes. Second, they did not have the necessary permits),” Placido said.
He said “visual cluttering” is also not allowed in open spaces based on the Anti-Littering Law.
Envirotech is renting the 2,000-square meter lot, according to Placido.
Placido was not able to give an estimate of the volume of wastes dumped in the private property, but Cenro believed that several tons of garbage were piled up there.
“Atong gibuhat karon atong giisyuhan og citation ticket kay nakalapas sila sa ordinansa sa syudad. Atong gi-advisan nga i-hold ang activity. Wa nay activity mahitabo didto (We issued a citation ticket because they violated city ordinances. We also told them to cease any activities in the area),” said Placido.
Cenro also disallowed the withdrawal of any heavy equipment and other items that are considered accessory to the violation committed.
Cenro gave Envirotech72 hours from the issuance of citation ticket to settle the P16,500 fine.
Placido said Edmund Roxas of Envirotech told him they just use the lot as a “yard.”
Roxas told the officer that he was not the owner of the company.
Reporters tried to call Roxas, but he said he did not know about it. He then hung up.
“Wala akong kinalaman dyan (I don’t have anything to do with that),” he said.
Placido said they may recommend the filing of cases against the company for violations of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 to the Office of the Mayor.
For his part, Quisumbing said he will decide once Cenro will forward the report to him.