Higher fines for littering eyed in Manila

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA—To step up Manila’s cleanliness drive, especially in public markets, a Manila councilor is proposing to increase the fine for littering from P20 to P200-P500.

Councilor Marlon Lacson on Thursday filed a bill that seeks to amend a 1973 ordinance imposing a penalty of P20 and/or imprisonment of two days on violators of the city’s anti-littering laws.

In the proposed amendment, a graduated rate of P200 for first offense, P350 for second offense and P500 for third and succeeding violations will be applied.

The proposed penalty also includes imprisonment of two to five days or community service at the discretion of the courts.

“Most of the time, people complain about Manila’s dirtiness. So we want to put teeth on the enforcement of the anti-littering ordinance. But we’re not necessarily targeting individual citizens. The focus is on vendors and the mountain of trash in public markets,” Lacson said.

Lacson said the penalty increase was requested by the City Administrator’s Office and policemen in the Divisoria area. City Administrator Simeon Garcia was tasked by Mayor Joseph Estrada to oversee reforms in the bargain shopping district.

“Discipline is not enforced because it’s only P20. Especially market stall owners, they just throw their garbage on the street in wanton disregard of the antilittering ordinance,” Lacson said.

Lacson noted that a presidential decree sets a penalty of not less than P100 to not more than P2,000 and imprisonment of five days to one year upon the court’s discretion.

“But it might be too steep so we’ll undergo first reading (for the proposed amendment) and conduct a public hearing” where vendors’ associations and barangay officials will be consulted, he said.

“It’s high time we do something about cleanliness of the City of Manila,” he said.

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