Pasil officials want funds to repair communal toilet

CEBU, Philippines – Officials of barangay Pasil are requesting Cebu City councilor Ritchie Osmeña to allocate part of his funds for the repair of the barangay’s public communal toilet to stop the throwing of human waste into their seawaters.

According to Pasil barangay captain Romeo Ocarol, the reconstruction of the public communal toilet in their barangay will deter and discourage their residents from dumping their waste into the sea.

The barangay officials said the indiscriminate throwing of human waste into the sea deteriorates and destroys the environment and violates the provisions of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Ocarol said the members of the barangay council decided to ask the help of councilor Osmeña, being one of the south district councilors.

It was learned that each of the city councilors have been allocated P13 million and told to identify the projects to fund.

“The proposed infrastructure project has been geared towards the promotion of general welfare of the constituents as they are necessary for the delivery of basic services to its inhabitants and for the economic growth and development of Pasil,” Ocarol said.

The FREEMAN learned that many of the residents in barangay Pasil that do not have personal toilets in their respective houses and just place their human waste inside plastic bags and throw them in the sea.

“Gagmay man kaayo ang ilang pwesto mao nga lisud na kaayo kon magkutkot pa sila og kasilyas,” one Pasil resident explained.

One time, there was foreigner who joked that the longest toilet in the world can be seen in Pasil after he saw many persons relieving themselves above the seawall of the barangay one morning.

This led a former barangay councilman to construct a communal toilet right at the seawaters where he collects P1 for every person who use it, but it still empties into the sea.

That illegal structure is reportedly still there. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)