Sue us, mayor dares firm, hauler

OSMEÑA

CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he would not pay the owner of the landfill in Consolacion and the private hauler, who transported the city’s garbage earlier this year.

Osmeña, however, challenged them to sue the Cebu City government instead.

He said the city’s transaction at that time, which was still under the administration of former mayor Michael Rama, is not legal.

“I don’t want to go to jail. I cannot pay for something that there is an illegal transaction. That’s tinonto (stupid). To me, that’s pure foolishness. Naay nakakwarta diha, klaro kaayo (Somebody is making money out of that. It’s clear). That’s why many Team Rama members are so excited for us to use the Consolacion landfill,” he said in an interview yesterday.

It was earlier reported that the city owes Asian Energy Systems Corp. in Consolacion P32 million for tipping fees for garbage that the city dumped from January to June this year, before Osmeña assumed as mayor.

A private hauler is also asking for another P29 million payment for two months worth of transport and tipping fees as well.

He said he wasn’t the one who transacted with them.

“I didn’t ask them to render their service. Tell them to sue. If they can get a decision from the court, fine. (But) dili sila kadaug (they won’t win),” he said.

The mayor also stood pat on his earlier pronouncements that the city would continue to use the Inayawan landfill and that he would not go back to dumping at the Consolacion landfill.

He also assured that the city government had been implementing measures to mitigate the stench coming from the Inayawan landfill, which had drawn complaints from residents, students and business establishments around the facility.