More reasons against reuse of Consolacion private dumpsite

A private landfill in Consolacion was used by the Ceby City government as dumping site for its garbage, a practice which was stopped by Mayor Tomas Osmeña for being too costly. (CDN FILE PHOTO)

DESPITE recommendation from the Court of Appeals (CA) for Cebu City Hall to try and renegotiate with the private landfill in Consolacion town, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said it cannot go back dumping its waste there.
“We have talked to Consolacion last week and we cannot comply with their requirements. For one, we don’t have enough trucks to deliver it,” he told Cebu Daily News in a text exchange.

But aside from this, there are other reasons he said why the city can’t reuse the Consolacion dumpsite, owned and operated by Asian Energy Systems Corp.

Osmeña said the Commission on Audit (COA) has already cited the city regarding its use of the private landfill through negotiated bidding and without a legal and binding contract.

He also said that he was able to talk with Mandaue City Mayor Luigi Quisumbing about the reuse of the private dumpsite.

“Mandaue will not allow our trucks to add to their traffic,” the mayor said.

Demand

Last week, a representative from Asian Energy Systems Corp. visited the mayor’s office to demand payment of around P32 million for the services they rendered from January to June this year. The city had to pay P700 per ton to the private landfill as tipping fee.

But right after their meeting, Osmeña said he won’t pay the private landfill owner saying it would be illegal to do so since the city doesn’t have a valid contract with them.

Instead, he urged Asian Energy to sue him, saying only an order from the Supreme Court (SC) could compel him to do so.

For her part, city hall’s consultant on environment Nida Cabrera, who has been assigned by the mayor to deal with the landfill, affirmed Osmeña’s reservations in going back to Consolacion.

She added that the city no longer has funds for additional tipping fees for the rest of the year should the court compel them to go back to the private dumpsite.

“If we go back to Consolacion, we will have to spend around P20 million every month. And as of now, the city doesn’t have budget for tipping fees anymore,” Cabrera told CDN.

She said the city doesn’t have much of a choice but to continue using the Inayawan landfill.

She said that although they have been looking for alternative sites where the city can dump its garbage, nothing else is ready as of the moment.

“The areas we’ve visited so far are still working on their ECC (Environmental Compliance Certificate) and the sites are yet to be developed. It will take six months for them to develop, and processing the requirements would take another one year,” Cabrera said.

Among the sites they are looking into are landfills in Aloguinsan, Sibonga and Minglanilla.

Meanwhile, Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella welcomed the recommendation of the CA.

“It has always been my position to authorize the mayor to negotiate with any dumpsite. And the council has already given him that authority,” he told reporters.

Labella added that the council is giving the mayor a free hand to choose which alternative dumpsite would be the best deal for the city.