Garbage woes and tunnel works

Ricky Poca

Last week, a friend of mine asked me if there was a piggery near my place due to the foul odor she smelled while she was at the veranda of my house.

I told her there was none because I lived in a residential area. A day after her visit, I smelled the foul odor and immediately identified it as coming from the garbage transfer station set up by the Cebu City government at the South Road Properties (SRP).

I now question Cebu City Hall’s wisdom in putting up a garbage transfer station at the SRP when the present hauler could not pick up the garbage dumped at the transfer station soon enough.

The Cebu City government should be sensitive and considerate of the welfare of the residents living near the SRP who were made to suffer from the pollution it caused by setting up the transfer station there.

I hope the city government would find a lasting solution to the garbage problem because its constituents deserve that and nothing less.

The city government spent so much time to build the SRP only to make part of it into a garbage dumping station. I pray that the national government agencies including the Office of the President would do something to solve this problem.

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I welcome the suspension of the tunnel project in the south because, honestly, I can see that it would create heavy traffic congestion there and in the surrounding areas.

I am not against development and I favor the construction of the underpass in that area, but I believe that the people should be consulted first and alternate routes should be prepared once the main road is closed to traffic.

Former mayor Mike Rama had been drawing flak for allegedly interfering in the project, but critics forget that he lives near the project site. He was correct when he called for the widening of alternate roads and covering of potholes there.

Rama is merely exercising his freedom of speech to speak out against the flaws in the implementation of the project. Instead of sulking after his loss, Rama is still active and talking with barangay officials.

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I am dedicating this space to bring attention to the plight of Marawi City residents and pray that their exodus will end.

Let us all pray for our soldiers and the families who were displaced and staying in Cebu away from their loved ones who remain holed up in Marawi City. I join others in praying that the siege ends and the families can return to rebuild their homes there.