City Hall monitors non-compliant market vendors

Before they apprehend violators, the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) will meet market organizations in the city to educate them on the policy that prohibits the use of plastic bags on certain days.

In an interview, CCENRO chief Nida Cabrera said there are still plenty of market vendors who violate the ordinance that bans the use of plastic.

Under City Ordinance 2343, the use of plastic bags is prohibited on Saturdays. Another ordinance amended the measure to include Wednesdays.

“Business establishments are compliant with the policy except the market (vendors), which is really our problem,” Cabrera said.

She said they are set to deploy five personnel in the markets to apprehend violators.

But before they strictly enforce the ordinance, Cabrera said she will meet with different market organizations next week.

“We really need to instill discipline among the vendors because before, the market used to be compliant with the plastic ban but when they noticed that we don’t have personnel to apprehend them, they went back to their old ways of using plastic,” she said.

Cabrera said CCENRO will strictly enforce the plastic ban especially since other local government units like Mandaue City has implemented it.

In Mandaue City, the ordinance prohibiting the use of plastic on all days of the week was approved in 2010 yet but was strictly enforced only in 2016 after the city experienced heavy flooding.

Plastic bags were identified as the main cause of clogged drainage and waterways, which in turn causes flooding in the city during heavy rains.