BAGUIO CITY — Health authorities here warned the city government and residents of the possible outbreak of various diseases caused by the rotting uncollected garbage along the streets and in the different barangays.

The city health department said outbreak of various kinds of diseases could happen if the tons of garbage continue to pile up and insects will breed on them, thus, the health of local residents will be compromised.

In her letter to Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr., Dr. Florence Reyes, city health officer, said the top 10 leading causes of morbidity for this year may be an indirect result of uncollected garbage over the past several weeks.

What worries health experts, she disclosed, is the presence of stray dogs and the proliferation of rats which could result in the spread of different kinds of diseases.

Aside from the exposure of the public to dog bites due to stray dogs feasting on garbage, the health department said the increase in rats might cause an outbreak of leptospirosis bacterial infection.

She said other diseases like dermatitis and asthma indicate the presence of allergens in the environment, an indication the city’s surroundings is already polluted.

For this year, the top 10 leading causes of morbidity in the city include upper respiratory tract infection, dog bites, bronchitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, urinary tract infection, dermatitis, muscular diseases, systematic viral infection and asthma.

Piles of garbage are now evident all over the city after the city council denied the request for reconsideration for the allocation of P26 million to sustain the hauling of garbage from the city to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.

The denial of the request for allocation of funds for garbage hauling is primarily engineered by the political differences of local officials as they could not get their acts together due to conflicting views on the sensitive issue.

The city government is intending to use the city’s calamity funds for the hauling of garbage if the council refuses to reconsider its decision denying the allocation of funds for the sustained effort to get rid of the piles of garbage all over the city.

Aside from the hauling of the city’s tons of garbage to the Tarlac sanitary landfill, the city is working out on the establishment of 128 materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in order to reduce the wastes being brought out by the people while working on the establishment of the engineered sanitary landfill which is provided for in Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Malacañang is providing P8.6 out of the P21.5 million required for the put up of 115 MRFs in the 116 barangays in order to reduce the garbage from the households by as much as 85 percent.

At present, there are 3 MRFs in the city which service the garbage requirements of 12 adjacent barangays.