BACOLOD City – Starting January 2023, this city will strictly implement the laws and ordinances on solid waste management (SWM) following an orientation conducted by the Department of Public Services (DPS) recently.
Last month, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez issued Memorandum Order No. 54, creating the Integrated Enforcement Team (IET), and 50 personnel who underwent orientation by the DPS will be part of the team.
DPS officer-in-charge (OIC) Ma. Fe Trespuentes said the orientation imparted knowledge among its personnel, who will be deputized to enforce ordinances in the barangay and community levels, including business establishments, particularly on the provisions on violations and the corresponding fines and penalties.
Trespuentes was appointed by the city mayor to replace DPS director Ramel Palalon, who was under a 60-day preventive suspension.
The orientation focused mainly on Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000) and other local laws on proper solid waste disposal.
Trespuentes said the orientation was part of the mandate of her office pertaining to the Information Education Campaign (IEC), the SWM, and street cleaning.
An IEC team was created to discuss existing ordinances, which highlight the anti-littering ordinance (City Ordinance (CO) No. 531) and CO No. 596 or “An ordinance prohibiting the indiscriminate throwing and dumping of garbage, rubbish, or any kind of waste in open public places and mandating all residential and commercial or business establishments to clean and maintain the cleanliness of their frontage and surroundings and providing penalties thereof, repealing CO No. 173 and CO No. 251.”
The DPS OIC added that a composite team will be formed, headed by the City Legal Office (CLO) and the Bacolod City Police Office, when apprehension is needed.
Massive information dissemination to the public will also be conducted before the implementation.
CLO, meanwhile, is also preparing for the printing of citation tickets with the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO)./PN
