MANDAUE CITY, Cebu–Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing has ordered a plastic ban in this industrial city following Friday’s floods that reached to waist-level in some areas.

The order came after Quisumbing’s meeting with the city’s crisis committee on Saturday to solve the perennial problem of flood in Mandaue.

Heavy rains on Friday afternoon triggered floods in the city streets in Mandaue, causing a traffic gridlock that affected the adjacent Cebu City and lasted midnight of Saturday.

Quisumbing, a two-term congressman of the 6th district who assumed the mayoral post only on June 30, announced the ban of the use of plastic on Mandaue City’s FaceBook page on Saturday.

He said there would be a one week grace period before the full implementation of a 2010 ordinance that banned the use of plastic as flood control mechanism.

Under the ordinance, violator will face a penalty of P500-fine or five-day imprisonment depending on the discretion of the court.

Quisumbing also directed the City Legal Office and the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) to initiate trainings of village watchmen who will be tasked to implement the ordinance.

He added he would return to the Department of Public Services the power to deploy personnel for the city’s Clean and Green Program ” for a more concerted effort for maximum effect.”

“I humbly ask for cooperation and understanding as we implement these measures. I am convinced these are for the greater good,” the mayor added.