Cebu City Officials deny claims of garbage left uncollected

UNCOLLECTED GARBAGE IN BARANGAY TEJERO/JAN. 24, 2017: (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Does Cebu City have a garbage collection problem or are images of uncollected trash splashed across Facebook just figments of people’s overheated imagination of a problem that really does not exist?

The city’s Department of Public Services (DPS) assured that there is no problem with the city’s garbage collection program.

According to DPS assistant head John Paul Gelasque, the mounds of uncollected garbage seen on social media are probably only photos taken right before or after the DPS had collected the garbage.

Citing photos of a trash-laden Cebu City Fish Market, more popularly known as the Pasil Fish Market, posted on FB as an example, Gelasque explained that the DPS had a regular collection schedule in the area, which is every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

“I can assure you, by 11 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday), all those garbage will be gone. Just as long as there are no problems with our trucks or our payloader,” Gelasque told Cebu Daily News.

He further explained that to ensure that the city’s roads are free of trash during the day, the city and the barangay’s collection schedule is set between 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. of the next day.

Gelasque lamented the people’s tendency to immediately blame DPS for photos of uncollected garbage that are posted on social media.
The barangays also have their share, he said.

“There are no problems with the garbage collection in Cebu City. There are just some barangays who don’t fulfill their responsibility. This is a shared responsibility. It’s not just DPS,” he said.

The Pasil Fish Market, located near Barangay Pasil, is geographically under the jurisdiction of Barangay Suba.
Sought for comment, Suba Barangay Councilor Roger Resurreccion said that the fish market’s garbage was being regularly collected by DPS because it had become difficult for the barangay to collect trash using only one mini dump truck to cover the entire village.

“Priority g’yud sa atong garbage collection kay ang barangay g’yud tungod sa kagamay sa atong dump truck. If ma-stop man gud ta sa collection sa barangay magtipun-og na maayo ang garbage. Maong ang focus nato is sa block 1 to 8 (We prioritize the barangay in our garbage collection since we only have one mini dump truck. If we will stop collecting, the garbage will pile up),” Resurreccion explained.

Under the city’s garbage collection program, the DPS is tasked to collect trash from major thoroughfares while the barangays’ are assigned to do the rounds in smaller roads and interior zones or sitios.

Gelasque urged barangays to immediately inform DPS if they cannot do their usual routes so that the DPS can take over the collection instead.

Reports

Reports earlier reaching the city’s environmental committee chairman, Councilor Joel Garganera, complained of trash piling up in areas across the city.

Garganera said he believed that this was due to the “overcapacity” of a transfer station used by the city’s private garbage hauler, Jomara Konstruckt Corp., in Barangay Inayawan.

Garganera also received complaints that the stench of garbage emanating from the transfer station was also beginning to inconvenience nearby residents.

“Our garbage trucks in the barangays have stopped collecting garbage because our transfer station is now beyond capacity,” he said.

A claim belied by Gelasque who said that the transfer station could still accommodate the city’s trash and the DPS and the barangays continued to dump there.

‘No uncollected garbage’

Over at the densely populated Barangay Pasil, the village chief, Julius Guioguio, told CDN that garbage collection was being done twice a day.

In his assessment, he said, they are almost done collecting trash from the Santo Niño festivities which Cebu celebrated nearly two weeks ago.

“Kada adlaw man atong collection. Sa karon akong assessment sa mga sagbot kadto panang Pista Senior nahurot-hurot naman na namog kuha (Our garbage collection is done daily. Based on my assessment on the garbage since Fiesta Señor, we’re nearly done),” said the barangay captain.

In Tejero, Barangay Captain Jessielou Cadungog said that the mounds of trash seen by motorists near Tejero Creek are actually not uncollected garbage but dirt dredged from the creek and left to air dry.

“Gikan na sa sapa nato atong gikuha. Pero gibutang na nato sa street aron paughon. Kay dili man modawat ang Inayawan og basa (Those come from the creek. We put it on the street so it will dry up. Since the transfer station in Inayawan does not allow wet garbage ),” Cadungog said.

Cadungog said that he explained the matter to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña after his attention was called about the unsightly site.