Lapu-Lapu mayor sued over garbage

BUSINESSMAN Efrain Pelaez Jr. yesterday filed a complaint against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza and 29 barangay captains over what he complained was the worsening garbage problem in the city.

He asked the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas to hold the respondents liable for non-compliance of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Law.

He said the mayor’s failure to implement a sound solid wast management program was gross negligence and dereliction of duty.

“After almost half a decade and despite the change in administration from Arturo to his wife Paz, nothing has been done to address this gravely alarming situation,” said Pelaez.

Mayor Radaza said the lawsuit was a “cheap political trick of someone defeated by voters in the last election.”

Pelaez ran for mayor but lost to Radaza in the 2010 elections.

The mayor said Pelaez. spared barangay captain Isabelito Darnayla of Basak who has been her political opponent.

“Despite repeated issuance of solid waste citation tickets, barangay Basak has failed to act on their garbage problem. Basak road is a major artery in the city and the garbage problem created by the barangay captain is his way of sabotaging the city’s effort to keep it clean,” Radaza said.

“One month from now is the filing of the certificate of candidacy. On the eve of the launching of his candidacy for mayor in 2010, he used the same issue to prop up his campaign that eventually led to his defeat. Today, he is at it again, trying to make solid waste management an issue,” the mayor said.

Radaza said Lapu-Lapu city is in the forefront of implementing solid waste management laws.

She said they conducted seminars to equip barangays to manage their solid waste, and stepped up an education drive on waste segregation.

Lapu-Lapu city’s material recovery facility (MRF) has been strictly implementing a ”no segregation, no entry policy.”

Radaza said “Lapu-Lapu is the only one that has a working MRF in the country. More than half of the 19 mainland barangays have already constructed their own MRF while others have included it in their budget. That is why the volume of garbage that is sent to the city’s MRF has further reduced.”

On the other hand, Pelaez said the MRF in Lapu-Lapu is actually a controlled dumpsite which is prohibited by RA 9003.

In his complaint, Pelaez said millions of pesos were allocated for the clean and green program in Lapu-Lapu City but the respondents allegedly failed to improve the garbage situation.

He said LGUs are primarily responsible for segregation and collection of solid waste at the barangay level under the law.

“Equally condemnable is the fact that none of the barangay captains and their barangay councilmen have waste segregation, composting plants, recycling and waste reduction policies in their barangay,” Pelaez said.

He said Mayor Radaza continues to operate a controlled dumpsite which is prohibited under the law.

Pelaez sent a Notice to Sue to the respondents last month.

At the time, he said his business establishment, Mactan Marina Mall, was harassed by City Hall through citations for some violations.

“Some areas open for parking were also declared a no parking zone hastily and without any valid regulation. All these retaliatory moves were resorted to in order to harass the complainant,” Pelaez said.