TUBA, Benguet – Mayor Ignacio Rivera vehemently denounced the unabated dumping of unsegregated garbage along major road networks in the municipality that contribute to the pollution of its scenic ravines.
The local chief executive revealed concerned residents uncovered the dumped unsegregated garbage in the different ravines along the Baguio-Asin road, Marcos highway and Kennon road that has made it difficult for the employees of the municipal environment and natural resources office to clean up.
“We are saddened that undisciplined residents from nearby areas continue to dump unsegregated garbage in our areas of jurisdiction which have significantly affected our efforts to maintain cleanliness in our place. We hope that those who have unscrupulously dumped the garbage in our areas of jurisdiction will have the conscience not to repeat the same in the future,” Rivera stressed.
He said he does not want to put the blame on anybody but the continuous unabated dumping of waste in various ravines in the town has resulted in the demoralization of barangay officials and municipal government personnel handling the solid waste disposal problem.
Aside from fencing their identified garbage disposal sites along the said roadlines, Mayor Rivera said he urged barangay officials in the concerned barangays where the unsegregated garbage had been dumped to be on alert and identify vehicles and individuals dumping their waste in the municipality so that the local government will file the appropriate charges against them.
According to him, the local government is also planning to put up monitoring equipment to help barangay officials and municipal personnel identify erring individuals.
Further, he claimed the garbage that are being dumped in the town’s jurisdiction are being inspected to trace their origins to help them file the necessary charges against those who refuse to adhere to the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, particularly the segregation of waste at source.
The municipal government established its various solid waste disposal sites along the Baguio-Asin road, Marcos highway and Kennon road to make it easy for its personnel to collect the segregated garbage from the residents but the disposal sites had also been used by undisciplined people from neighboring areas to dump their unsegregated waste because they refuse to segregate their waste at source.
Rivera underscored solid waste disposal is everyone’s responsibility, especially the segregation of waste at source, to help lessen the burden of assigned local government personnel in collecting the generated wastes for further segregation, thus, the need for residents and people in other areas to cooperate in solid waste disposal programs being implemented in their places.
By HENT