By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

HUNDREDS of health-regulated establishments on Guam need to be inspected for safety and sanitation on a regular basis, but the Division of Environmental Health has only three inspectors trying to do the job.
It’s hard to determine if the food you’re eating in a restaurant was prepared in a sanitary environment. You don’t know what kind of disease you might catch in a dirty laundromat.
“There’s always a risk because of our situation, but we try to address priority areas,” said Ronald Carandang, the environmental health specialist supervisor at DEH’s Bureau of Inspection and Enforcement.
The bureau has been left with only two health and safety inspectors and one environmental health specialist as a result of staff transfers, relocations and resignations.
Six positions need to be filled, but the success in recruitment depends on the release of funds, Carandang said. “The inspector positions are not exactly hard to fill; it’s just a matter of availability of money,” he said.
Under the law, inspections of health-regulated establishments must be conducted once every quarter.
There are 417 restaurants on Guam that need to be inspected, but during the fourth quarter of last year, the bureau was able to conduct only 43 inspections.
Of 92 bars, only two were inspected during the same period. Inspectors visited six cafeterias out of 42; two catering businesses out of 42; five stall stands out of 89; 22 retail stores out of 449; and two beauty salons out of 92.
“Due to the manpower shortage, we have to prioritize high-risk population areas, while at the same time we address complaints regarding restaurants,” Carandang said.
Priority areas include school buildings, school cafeterias, restaurants, childcare centers, and elderly homes.
Since August, Carandang said, inspectors have been focusing on school buildings and cafeterias.
In the meantime, he added, “We’re trying our best to do as many inspections as we are mandated to do.”