Team Rama: Is ‘Basura Mo, Sardinas Ko’ program working?

IS Cebu City Hall’s “Basura Mo, Sardinas Ko” program actually motivating city residents to properly dispose of their garbage?

The Team Rama bloc of the Cebu City Council asked this question in yesterday’s session as they asked for concrete data from the Department of Public Services (DPS) to show whether the program is working or not.

The program is being piloted in Barangays Lahug and Cogon Pardo, specifically in sitios that are near creeks and rivers.

“How much garbage is collected in Cogon Pardo and Lahug every day? And you measure the garbage collected in exchange for sardines. This is a special program. We want to measure the success,” Councilor Jose Daluz III said.

The DPS program involves giving a can of sardines for every plastic bag of garbage that is personally handed over by a resident to the collectors.

DPS assistant head John Paul Gelasque said the city increased its garbage collection from 600 tons to nearly 700 tons per day due to the program.
He said the DPS gives 1,000 cans of sardines in the two pilot barangays in exchange for the bags of garbage that residents deliver to the garbage trucks.

“There’s an instance when one out-of-school youth got 20 to 25 cans of sardines because he would knock at houses and ask for their garbage,” he said.

But Daluz said people may get used to getting sardines in exchange for throwing their garbage.

He said if they don’t get anything in return, they would not be responsible with their garbage disposal.

But Gelasque said the program does help instill discipline among residents to collect and dispose of their garbage by providing incentives to do so.