• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Vendors along Bonifacio Street in the Central Market of Bacolod may face the cancellation of their business permits if they continue to violate the ordinance against the indiscriminate throwing of garbage, city officials warned June 23.
City Legal Office (CLO) head, Atty. Karol Joseph Chiu, noted reports that piled up garbage has spilled into the city’s cross lanes and clogged nearby drainage systems.
Chiu said the city will summon the erring vendors for an urgent meeting today alongside City Administrator Mark Mayo.
The vendors will be reminded of the existing city ordinance that conditions their right to sell on maintaining proper waste management.
“They were allowed to sell there, but they must have garbage receptacles and observe proper disposal,” Chiu stressed.
CLO, the Bacolod Environment and Natural Resources Office, and City Health Office personnel, meanwhile, inspected the Banago River and Creek in barangays Bata and Banago following allegations of an oil spill.
Residents raised the alarm after observing pitch-black, foul-smelling water in the area.
Dr. Grace Tan of the CHO, however, clarified after a site inspection that the discoloration is not caused by an oil spill.
Authorities explained that an oil spill would leave visible chemical residue on the water surface.
Chiu said the inspection revealed that the black water is stagnant water caused by massive volume of garbage, debris, rocks, and thick vegetation blocking the river’s natural flow.
He lamented that heavy wastes consistently resurface after every downpour due to continuous illegal dumping by residents despite repeated cleanup and clearing operations conducted by the city near the North Terminal.
They urged leaders of the affected barangays to strictly orient their residents, enforce anti-littering rules, and intensify monitoring to stop the discharge of waste into the waterways.
The city government is currently conducting desilting operations in the waterways of Mandalagan before moving to Banago and Bata. | TMD
