ANGELES CITY – Citing that sludge is one of the major causes of flooding in the city, councilor Jesus “Jay” Sangil wants the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to conduct an inspection on business establishments violating environmental laws.
Sangil lamented that many restaurants in the city are dumping grease in the drainage while others dump their septic tank wastes elsewhere.
These are the reasons why our drainage system is clogged, he noted.
“Many establishments indiscriminately dump their wastes in the wee hours of the morning to avoid detection, he said. “Tinatapon sa ilang bahagi ng Abacan River, Sapangbalen Creek at sa mga drainage yung kanilang grease (They throw it along the Abacan river, Sapangbalen creek and the drainage system),” he said.
Sangil also said regular monitoring teams should start checking hundreds of restaurants and hotels to see if they are compliant with environmental laws, he said.
“Yung hindi naaareglo! (There should be no arrangements) May mga pagkakataon kasi na yung ibang mga business establishments ay inaareglo ang mga ibang inspector or monitoring team at binibigyan ng clearance kahit wala ng inspection (Because there are instances where the owners of establishments bribe inspectors or monitoring teams and they will be issued clearances even without actually inspecting them),” said Sangil.
Restaurants and hotels as well as malls are mostly located in barangays Balibago, Malabanias, Pulung Maragul, Anunas, Cutcut, Sto. Domingo, Sto. Rosario, Salapungan and dozens of eateries are in the downtown area.