City OKs environment transport permit law

CEBU, Philippines – Private waste haulers passing Mandaue City will have to pay corresponding permit fees as the Mandaue City Council has already made into law the proposed Environment Transport Permit Ordinance.

The City Council in its regular session recently approved on second and third reading the proposal which is meant to regulate the disposal of waste in Mandaue.

Councilor Ernie Manatad, chairman on Council Committee on Environmental Protection and author of this law, said they have received reports from the City Environment and Natural Office (CENRO) of private trucks carrying waste products in the city.

The garbage is reportedly then disposed near Butuanon River or in a private lot in Sitio Benedicto, Barangay Umapad, turning the area into a private dumpsite. Manatad said some of the garbage being thrown in the city is coming from outside Mandaue.

Armed with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003), CENRO head Placido Jerusalem said they had already apprehended a number of private haulers on their way to Benedicto.

He said the past years, this private lot has been used by informal settlers as dumping site of waste from factories. Residents here, he added, earn from these wastes from the fees they collect from every truck, as well as from the recyclable materials they are able to salvage.

Under this newly approved ordinance, truck owners and drivers of public and private vehicles “whether for profit or not operating, plying and driving their routes within the city...which shall carry and/or deliver any solid waste” will need to register with CENRO.

Registration fee is P2,000 to cover the vehicle sticker and the ID.

Requirements for registration are business permit, a Department of Environment and Natural Resources permit and a National Bureau of Investigation or Police Clearance for the driver.

Section 5 of the ordinance also mandates that vehicles shall register with CENRO before they operate. They will then be issued a sticker and an identification card for the driver by the Treasurer's Office.

Failure to register the vehicles leads to a corresponding fine of P5,000 or an imprisonment of five days to be slapped for the first offender; P10,000 or a jail time of 10 days for the second offender; and P30,000 or an imprisonment of one month for the third offender. — Liv G. Campo (FREEMAN)