BESAO, Mountain Province – Junk and scrap buyers in this town are now prohibited to buy wares from minors and senile persons.

The Besao council passed Ordinance 16, s. 2011, which noted many incidents where minors sell to junk/scrap buyers their parents’ serviceable agricultural and carpentry tools. Also, there are some adults who steal usable tools and deliberately deface, break, and destroy them to make it appear as scrap to justify their disposal or sale.

Instead of going around the locality to buy scrap, helpers of scrap buyers allegedly pick anything of value in people’s backyard, taking advantage of the absence of homeowners who are either in the fields or somewhere else.

There are also confirmed transactions between scrap buyers and individuals in unstable state of mind, the latter being easily enticed and prodded to give anything requested.

To address these concerns, the ordinance requires barangay officials to designate an appropriate scrap/junk waiting stations in their areas where the scrap buyers could wait and transact with their clients. The barangay officials are also tasked to monitor the business transaction.

Any person found violating the ordinance will be fined P1,000 for the first offense, P1,500 for the second offense, and P2,500 and/or imprisonment of one day to 15 days for the third offense.

In Natonin, scrap dealers are not allowed to bring out of town materials such as scrap metal, plastic, and bottles unless a loading permit is obtained from the Office of the Mayor.

The permit may only be given after the police has issued a certification that the scrap materials were unloaded and inspected, illegally obtained private or government properties were not included, and after a permit fee of P100 has been paid as shown by an official receipt from the treasury office.