Ordinance 149 lacks operational guidelines, says GSO head
The Iloilo City Solid Waste Management Board (ICSWMB) Technical Working Group has to check the operational guidelines of Regulation Ordinance 149, an ordinance which prescribes penalties inimical to cleanliness and sanitation prior to its full implementation.
The members of the enforcement team must be briefed on what to do and the proper procedures in issuing the sanitation citation ticket against the violators. There must be a clear-cut guideline before the full implementation of the ordinance, said Engr. Raul Gallo, head of the General Service Office (GSO).
The TWG is expected to come up with its recommendation and assessment in the implementation of the cleanliness and sanitation ordinance after a 10-day dry run that ended October 10, 2008. The information campaign period started September 29.
The clear and proper guidelines will avoid arguments between the enforcement team and the violators. The guidelines must also include who are the members of the enforcement team and who can issue the sanitation citation tickets, said Gallo.
Initially, the members of the enforcement team include the GSO, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) and Task Force Clean and Green.
The police are also part of the enforcement team. However, the police could not implement all the regulation ordinances in the city since it is only the deputy city director Supt. Eugenio Espejo who was given the mandate to issue sanitation citation ticket.
The vague role of the police in the enforcement of the cleanliness and sanitation ordinance must be resolved. Gallo recommended that each police precinct must have a team to effect the sanitation ordinance.
Moreover, it is also stipulated in the ordinance that fines and penalties will go to the coffers of the barangay concerned where the violator was apprehended. The fines and penalties would become an income generating project for the barangays, said Gallo.
In the ordinance, a violator shall be issued a citation ticket in such a form as the city mayor may devise commanding the violator to appear before the mayor's office within 72-hours from the issuance to the violator to show cause why she or he should not be prosecuted for violating the ordinance.
Within 72-hour period, the respondent may elect in lieu of the prosecution to voluntary fine. For the 1st offense the fine is P500; 2nd offense P750 and 3rd offense P1,000. In the 4th offense, there is no fine as the case would be referred to the City Prosecutors Office.
Ordinance 149 prohibits littering on the street, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds and other public places, urinating, defecating or spitting in public places, painting, inscribing or posting graffiti on public places or public buildings, walls, fence and similar places.
It also prohibits vandalism of public or private property. The failure to clean the premises surrounding the public and private building or vacant lots connotes violation in the ordinance. The city mayor may order the cleaning of the premises of vacant lot at the expense of the owner. The commercial establishment owners were also directed to observe the garbage collection period or else they will also be penalized.