The problem with the Inayawan dumpsite has been with Cebu City residents for sometime that it was during the former administration of mayor Mike Rama that the city was threatened with a civil suit from environmentalists.
Many options were studied in order to address the objections raised by the environmentalists that it left the city to adopt measures that were acceptable to the public and the Solid Waste Management Law.
That foul smell emanating from the Inayawan dumpsite had already been there long before Mayor Tomas Osmeña retook City Hall. Last year, then mayor Mike Rama was left with no better option but to close the Inayawan dumpsite and directed the garbage to be dumped in a private dumpsite in Consolacion town for a fee.
So far so good, as the saying goes, because many of the people, especially the residents near the dumpsite, were satisfied with the disappearance of the foul smell.
Fast forward to the new administration of Mayor Tomas Osmeña who decided to reopen the Inayawan dumpsite because it found the tipping fee paid by the city unreasonable.
Everyone was shocked by the mayor’s unilateral decision, but because he was the mayor, those who objected to the idea just kept silent until the problems caused by the reopening of the dumpsite surfaced.
The first to complain were the residents and some establishments like the school near the area. Apparently, the foul smell coming from the dumpsite bothered the students at the University of Cebu and some of the restaurants.
The mayor promised to undertake some measure to address the concerns of the many, but the foul odor still continues to emanate from the dumpsite that the students of the University of Cebu started to wear surgical masks to dramatize the ordeal they were going through.
Even a restaurant in the area complained that they no longer have customers because most of their customers would leave once their noses pick on the foul odor from the dumpsite.
The mayor’s solution was to give financial assistance of P5,000 each to all the students of the University of Cebu, but what about the establishments and residents near the area who are also affected by the foul smell?
Personally, I think that the financial assistance given by the city government is not the best solution to the problem caused by the reopening of the dumpsite.
It is just like buying the silence of the students and thus is very insulting to the administration and students of the University of Cebu.
Let me ask, where are the environmentalists who threatened the former administration with a civil suit because of the Inayawan dumpsite?
Atty. Golly Ramos, my good friend, why the stony silence now on the reopening of the Inayawan dumpsite? I am happy that the City Council made a stand on the issue and asked the mayor to close the dumpsite. But the mayor refused to budge.
I am hoping that the mayor is going to have an open mind in finding solutions to the problem of the Inayawan dumpsite, for after all, the mayor is there to serve the welfare and interests of the people.
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President Rodrigo Duterte was very popular among the leaders of the Asean despite some controversy that attended his presence, in particular the way he insulted US president Obama by calling him a “son of a whore.”
Duterte lamented that the international media was very good in spinning his statements when in fact the translation of his statement is very ordinary to the American people and is commonly used.
Duterte has highlighted his war against illegal drugs in our country because of the number of drug users and peddlers in our country which he estimated to be about three million.
He saw the need for strong measures that’s why he is so mad at those who accused his administration of being behind the extrajudicial killings.