Two tons of surgical gloves were seized in an apartment in Tanza, Cavite, on Tuesday.
According to the neighbors, the police, Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), and Rural Health Unit raided an apartment in a subdivision in Barangay Tres Cruses.
Used surgical gloves are in 4 apartment units. Other surgical gloves contain blood and medicine.
Two were arrested in the incident. According to one of the suspects, he did not know where the surgical gloves came from.
He said his acquaintance only begged him to dump it in the apartment.
“Siyempre ibebenta po nila ata ‘yan sa may scrapan ata. ‘Yun ang alam ko tapos ire-recycle, tutunawin po ata. Pasensya na po, kung ano dapat gawin para mai-clear lahat gagawin po namin,” according to Ernest Latuan.
(They will sell it to a junk shop. That’s what I knew. They will recycle it. I think they will melt them. I am sorry. I don’t know what to do for us to be cleared on what we did.)
According to Menandro Dimaranan of Tanza MENRO, this is alarming, especially with the pandemic.
“Dapat mga ganyan na basura ay dapat dadalhin sa treater. Ite-treat muna siya bago siya itapon doon sa tamang basurahan,” said Dimaranan.
2 tons of surgical gloves seized in Cavite
(Such wastes should be taken to the treater. They will be treated first before they are thrown there in the proper trash.)
The two were charged with violating RA 9003 or Ecological Waste Management Act and RA 6969 or Act to Control Toxic Substances And Hazardous Waste.
In March, a diver and his group that conducts a regular clean-up drive at Anilao, Batangas, observed that more medical wastes were dumped in the dive sites.
Divers are said to be worried and saddened that the garbage problem in the ocean could get worse.
Environmental group Greenpeace warns that not only marine life is affected by underwater wastes but also humans.
It is also said to have a long-term effect.
The DENR can recommend that the public only use reusable or cloth masks, but they cannot make it mandatory.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.