Egay Uy .
CITY Local Environment and Natural Resources Office officer-in-charge Engr. Armen Cuenca was reported in a local daily as saying that is office will deploy all available personnel during the fiesta celebration in line with the goal of having a garbage-free Higalaay festivities this month.
He added that the barangay tanod and other agencies will be deputized to act as enforcers of anti-littering measures.
City Ordinance 6734-99 has amended Chapter 115, Section 504 of the Codified Ordinance of Cagayan de Oro City which now reads that it “shall be unlawful for any person to spill, scatter, pour out garbage, rubbish, trash, or any waste material on any vacant lot and public place such as streets, plazas, parks, … or to throw, drop, scatter … any refuse, peeling, cigarette butt, waste paper, … or thing injurious to the public health and view ….”
Like the original version, this ordinance penalizes violators with a fine from P1,500 to P3,000 or imprisonment from four months to eight months, or both, at the discretion of the court.
It was however added that “market stallholders and sidewalk vendors within the perimeter of the city’s public markets found violating … shall be punished with … administrative penalties” from warning to prohibition “from selling in public markets “without prejudice to the filing of a criminal case in court.”
The City Economic Enterprise Department manager “is authorized to institute other administrative measures to ensure the cleanliness of the city’s public markets,” the amendatory ordinance adds.
May this serve as a reminder to all concerned that indiscriminate throwing of garbage anywhere but the trash bins or garbage cans is punishable not only by fine but also by imprisonment, or both.
There are measures that can readily be implemented by the concerned regulatory offices of government so that immediate action can be taken in cases where such actions are needed. This is especially so in cases where administrative fines are imposed as a requisite to the filing of criminal cases in court.
Many have been complaining about trash that litters our streets and yet probably they could be the very same people who throw litter. Just take the case of the three kilos of cigarette butts collected by the Clenro-led “plogging,” a combination of jogging with picking up litter, along JR Borja street from Burgos to Vicente Roa street.
It probably does not take some others to do it for us. We can all be the solution.
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