BACOLOD City – The City Legal Office (CLO) closed 61 water refilling stations in this city after the City Health Office (CHO) submitted their names to the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) for failure to secure business permits.
Bacolod City is on an alert for cholera following one confirmed case.
This also prompted the city council to pass a resolution urging the CHO to conduct tests and monitor all water refilling stations, dealers, resellers, and transporters in the city to check the potability of the community water sources to prevent the spread of cholera.
Earlier, Environment Sanitation Division chief, Dr. Grace Tan said they inspected 142 water refilling stations as of Sept. 23; of these, 81 had business permits while 61 had none.
Tan said the 61 water refilling stations are mandated to temporarily stop their operations until the business holders comply with their sanitary and business permits.
Because they failed to secure the business permit, it follows that they have no sanitary permit also, she explained.
Tan is also urging the public to be vigilant in purchasing water for drinking and practice cautionary measures such as inspecting if the business owner has their latest issued sanitary and business permits.
Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, meanwhile, said he would order the Bacolod Public Information Office to post on their Facebook page the names of the 61 water refilling stations so that the public will be aware./PN
