BAGUIO RESIDENT SUED FOR OPEN BURNING GARBAGE IN HER YARD

July 21, 2023 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

Policemen here sued a woman who ordered her wards to burn solid waste materials in her yard in Purok Magsaysay, Loakan Proper, here a week ago. The Baguio City Police Office (BCPO)-Loakan Police Station (PS 4) complained against the woman on July 12, 2023, after verifying and gathering evidence of improper waste disposal, said Baguio City police spokesperson Lt. Angeline Dongpaen.

Officers at Police Station 4 on July 12, 2023, received a phone call from a concerned citizen seeking police assistance regarding an alleged open burning of solid waste. Police officers and Kagawad Virgilio Magno Bautista tried to negotiate and educate the woman to comply with environmental laws and possible violations as provided by the salient provisions of R.A. No. 9003, but the woman
berated them instead.

As said by Dongpaen, the complaint against the woman serves as a warning to the public to adhere to proper methods of recycling and composition to avoid air pollution and property fires due to open burning of garbage’s. The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, or R.A. 9003, and the R.A. 8749, or the Clean Air Act, prohibit and penalizes open burning, defined “as the thermal destruction of waste through direct exposure to fire.”

Implementing rules of R.A. 8749 provides that “no person shall be allowed to burn any materials in any quantities which shall cause the emission of toxic and poisonous fumes. Such materials include but are not limited to plastic,” among others. Any violations is punishable with a fine of not less than PHP10,000.00 but not more than PHP100,00.00, six (6) years of imprisonment, or both.

Sec. 48, par. 3 of R.A. 9003 also prohibits the open burning of solid waste defined as “all discarded household, commercial waste, nonhazardous institutional and industrial waste, street sweepings, construction debris, agricultural waste, and other non-hazardous or nontoxic solid waste.” A fine of not less than Php300.00 but not more than Php1,000.00, imprisonment of not less than one day but not more than 15 days, or both, awaits any violators.

Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN