• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Food establishments in Bacolod City should encourage their customers to practice the clean as you go (CLAYGO) rule, a member of the Sangguniang Panlungsod stressed.
The CLAYGO rule or practice is a shared habit where everyone cleans up their own mess, throws away their trash, and returns trays or plates immediately after use, proponent Councilor Israel Salanga said, adding this directly supports the government’s aim of good hygiene, sanitation, and infection prevention.
“Having healthy, clean, and neat environment and surroundings could be best achieved by instilling a good habit and practice among Bacolodnons,” he added in his proposed ordinance recently approved on first reading by the SP.
Under the proposed CLAYGO Ordinance of Bacolod, owners of fast-food establishments, food stalls or kiosks, canteens, coffee shops, food trucks, concession stands, and other similar food establishments operating in Bacolod should encourage CLAYGO within their premises; provide an accessible area where customers could easily return trays and other non-disposable tableware; and provide bins where customers could easily dispose of their garbage.
Everyone should also practice CLAYGO whenever they are at public properties, like government buildings, including offices, parks, markets, roads, streets, sidewalks, multipurpose facilities, and the like, the proposal said.
It also seeks to prohibit the hanging of clothes and other effects on electrical wires, posts, and in other public places or structures; washing and drying of clothes along walkways, sidewalks, alleyways, and/or roads; storing, dumping, or placing wastes, debris, dilapidated or junked items and other similar objects in public places; placing animal cages or pens in public places; and leaving pets on leash in public places for more than an hour.
Proposed fines include P500 for first offense, P1,000 for second offense, and P2,000 for third and successive offenses.
There will also be corresponding penalties for noncompliant business establishments, Salanga, chairperson of the SP Committee on Social Services and Development, added. | CGC
