THE Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Cordillera region will be filing cases against local government units in the region who failed to comply under the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
EMB OIC regional director Reynaldo Digamo did not disclose the LGUs in the region, however, he said at least three, one in Benguet, will be facing charges including their chief executive.
Under Republic Act 9003, local government units are mandated to have their solid waste management plans with 32 LGUs in the region still needing to comply.
As of February 22, only 10 LGUs have submitted their 10-year solid waste management plan approved by EMB while 39 are currently under evaluation, five endorsed and 18 were reviewed and returned to their respective LGUs.
Digamo said there must be compliance to the solid wastes act as waste has become a problem for every LGUs.
Meanwhile, EMB reported a total of 1,253.75 sacks of mixed solid waste equivalent to approximately 19.902 tons collected during their recent clean-up activities.
The mixed solid waste collected includes plastic bags, bottles, styrofoam, tin cans, cellophane, rubbers and old clothes. Vegetative covers such as weeds and grasses were also removed so as not to impede the flow of the water along the waterways.