Eco-wardens in Mandaue ‘threatened by armed men'

Some eco-wardens of the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) were reportedly threatened by a group of armed persons while assigned in Barangay Tingub last week.

Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing said the incident happened when the eco-wardens were in the area to watch plastic wastes from Jeju, South Korea being pulled out from the barangay.

So far, only 11 trucks of trash were pulled out from Barangay Tingub and delivered to the Cebu International Port, where a vessel is waiting.

From the international port, the trash will be shipped back to South Korea.

“This is something that we really have to work out labi na sa (especially in) inter-agency cooperation,” said Quisumbing.

Some of the issues that Quisumbing mentioned were the docking of the ship, the classification of the wastes and the threatening of the eco-wardens by armed persons.

“Last week, while they were keeping watch over the area as the waste was being pulled out, a black Pajero arrived at the scene and opened their windows and doors to show that that the persons inside were carrying guns,” said Quisumbing.

“And then naa silay gipangita nga tawo nga taga Cenro (they were looking for someone from Cenro). When they were told that the person they were looking for was not there, they sped off,” Quisumbing said.

The eco-wardens were not able to get the plate number of the vehicle.

They are coordinating with police to trace the vehicle owner’s identity through closed-circuit television cameras in the area.

The mayor decided to assign the eco-wardens to another area.

Police officers were deployed to Tingub after the incident.