If Cebu City is spending twice for its garbage collection and disposal this year than in the previous years, blame it on the previous administrations that failed to provide concrete, long-term solutions to the garbage problem.
Whether they were too enamored with big-ticket projects like the South Road Properties (SRP) whose future economic prospects are tied to those sitting in power or had simply closed the Inayawan landfill without providing a better alternative other than dumping the city’s garbage in someone else’s backyard, the fact is these leaders have failed and are content with providing palliative solutions.
The Cebu City Council, whose balance of power will soon be changed with the addition of more councilors into the administration Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) party, shares that blame for failing to solve the garbage problem.
The councilors argued over the sustainability of the contracted garbage-hauling program with a private firm since they were spending millions of pesos more than paying for the private landfill facility in Consolacion town.
As far as the “Basura Mo, Sardinas Ko” program is concerned, one doesn’t need the Team Rama bloc to point out the obvious that it is a dole-out program with a debatable effectivity and success rate that is yet to be proven in concrete, measurable terms.
Similar to the van-for-hire terminal project in Barangay Kamagayan, the sardinas program is pilot-tested in two barangays; yet the administration, which prides itself in being budget-conscious, should give itself a deadline to determine if the program can succeed and be sustainable for both the city and its intended beneficiaries.
The administration had always maintained that the city should reopen the Inayawan landfill and argued that its area had yet to be maximized despite an evaluation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that it can no longer be used.
They’ve been trying to circumvent a Court of Appeals ruling to permanently close down the Inayawan landfill by proposing to build a transfer station there.
They argued that it is only intended as a storage for collected garbage and conveniently forgot to mention how long the garbage would stay there until it is collected which can last for months and even years until it’s forgotten.
Unfortunately for the city residents, the Team Rama bloc isn’t doing any better with one of its councilors suggesting that the city should go back to paying the private landfill facility whose contract is supposedly questionable.
Neither of these opposing parties had ever thought of building another landfill since they can’t be bothered with developing it even if it is the better, more sustainable solution to the garbage problem.