Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) cluster head Joemarie Vargas yesterday said he would recommend the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) introduce an ordinance to impose penalties against restaurants and food stall owners who dump cooking oil into the city drainage system.

Following declogging operations that extracted hardened cooking oil, along with other waste products, he advised hotel and restaurant owners operating along Lacson Street to install grease traps.

Vargas said hardened cooking oil is a bigger problem compared to plastic waste.

He explained plastic can flow easily through drainage pipes but dumped cooking oil accumulates along drainage walls, later solidifying and clogging the waterway.

Vargas said several food stalls in the downtown area have been seen dumping used cooking oil into city drainage.

Bacolod City Councilor Wilson Gamboa, Jr., meanwhile, said he would conduct a public hearing on September 13, as part of his proposed ordinance against the illegal dumping of waste in drainage systems, sewers, and manholes.

In a phone interview, Gamboa said that he would add cooking oil to the list of prohibited waste products that can easily be dumped.

He also said that he would invite representatives from supermarkets, restaurants, and hotel chains operating in Bacolod City./DGB, WDJ