Medical waste polluting Benguet creek

Used syringes litter the exposed, shallow portions of the creek.—CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

BAGUIO CITY — Medical waste has been polluting a creek at Barangay Taloy Sur in Tuba town, Benguet province.

A team from the Environmental Management Bureau was sent to inspect the waterway after Taloy Sur residents complained about the waste, EMB Cordillera director Reynaldo Digamo said on Tuesday.

Vicky Ducat, coordinator of the Social Action Center of Saint Paul’s Parish Church in Tuba, said continuous rains might have loosened the waste that appeared to have been dumped in a private property near the creek.

She said residents found syringes, broken glass containers, tubes and dextrose containers in the creek on July 9.

Toxic danger

The residents also alerted the municipal environment and natural resources officer on July 11 and the police on July 14 since, they said, they could not wait for the barangay to act.

On July 17, the Saint Paul’s Parish Church urged the Department of Health and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to take action.

“Medical waste is toxic. It should immediately be retrieved because it posed danger to people and animals,” Ducat said.

“We received a text message from Pugo [town in La Union province] saying residents there had seen syringes floating in their river,” she said.

The creek discharges into Tapuakan River, considered the cleanest waterway in the Ilocos region.

Ducat said those responsible for the dumping should be held accountable.