Rama (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Barug Team Rama bloc says they were unable to review contract
Instead of paying hourly rates to private garbage trucks to collect Cebu City’s garbage, some opposition councilors suggested that they be paid based on the volume of garbage they collect or the number of trips they make.
“How do we know that they are working for 24 hours? Is there monitoring on these trucks for 24 hours? If the driver decides to rest or sleep for one hour, we are still paying them for that,” said Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr. during a press conference with Barug Team Rama councilors yesterday.
He referred to City Hall’s current lease contract with Pasajero Motors Corp. (Pamocor) which provides 11 dump trucks and 10 compactor trucks to the city for an hourly rate of P700 per truck. These trucks are running for 24 hours a day.
Rama said the usual set up in lease contracts is that the providers are paid based on the weight of garbage they are able to collect. It works as a productivity enhancement, he said.
Another scheme could be to pay the contractor based on the number of trips their trucks make in a day.
Rama, who used to head the garbage program of the previous administration, recalled that before, they only rented 10-wheeler garbage trucks at a daily rate of P4,500.
This is lower than the city’s current set up in which it pays P16,800 per truck for one day.
“We raised these concerns in the City Council, but these fell on deaf ears. Most of our concerns were reasonable and logical. But some of them won’t heed logic,” Rama said.
A few weeks back, the City Council approved the budget for the lease contract of the garbage trucks for October until December.
Councilor Joel Garganera agreed with Rama, saying the City Council did not even get a copy of the contract between the city and Pamocor.
He said they only knew of the terms of reference of the bidding which include the payment of P700 per hour per truck.
Garganera said he talked to one of the truck drivers who told him that they work for 12 hours a shift.
MAYOR OSMEÑA (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
He said it is impossible that these drivers would work for 12 hours straight since they need to rest.
This means the city will still have to pay them even when they are resting since it is done at an hourly basis.
Instead of outsourcing garbage trucks, Rama also suggested that the city could instead outsource maintenance services for the city’s trucks.
Rama said while reconditioned trucks cost P800,000, the city pays Pamocor P504,000 for one truck for one month of services alone.
Sought for comment, Mayor Tomas Osmeña still criticized the previous administration for allegedly buying low quality trucks.
He also said the city should not buy its own garbage trucks with its money.
“Half the trucks that (former mayor Michael) Rama bought within five years are not running. That’s more economical? We cannot even sell it. You know why? Because you cannot sell something that’s five years old. It’s basura (garbage),” he said.
The mayor said Pamocor won’t get paid if its trucks are not running since under the contract, the city only pays for actual services rendered.