Will the budget allocated for Cebu City’s garbage collection and disposal be as cost-effective as the administration claims it to be, or will it be even costlier than the previous administration’s budget as what the opposition insists it will be?
Opposition Councilor Joel Garganera pointed to pride as the end-all reason behind the rising costs of garbage collection and disposal since it is the administration’s position that the previous administration’s purchase of garbage trucks that later turned out to be defective and the dumping of garbage at the Consolacion landfill escalated the costs to stratospheric heights.
That would explain the bigger budget, which supposedly would be cheaper than buying trucks at half the cost of renting the trucks provided by the contractor and paid for at an hourly rate.
As always, there would be speculations and allegations of irregularities in the hiring of service providers, which in this case is Pasajero Motors Corporation (Pamocor) who is contracted to provide the drivers and trucks in collecting the city’s rising garbage volume.
If the Barug Team Rama bloc is serious about challenging the budget for the city’s garbage collection, maybe they could ask auditors from the Commission on Audit (COA) to see if the contracts entered into with service providers are fiscally sound and not disadvantageous to the city.
Then again, state auditors will likely get the chance to do so sooner than later. What it all boils down to anyway is a return to the Inayawan landfill, if the P52 million–plus budget for certain improvements in the dumpsite are any indication.
To recall, that budget, which was readily approved by the administration majority bloc, includes developing additional land within the landfill/dumpsite area, building a fence around the existing landfill site to block out the foul odor emanating from there, and construction of a materials recovery facility (MRF) to process the city’s garbage and serve as a drop-off point before the garbage is delivered straight to the Consolacion landfill.
Even with the Court of Appeals ruling to permanently close the Inayawan landfill, the city government appears determined to get around the ruling and implement its garbage collection and disposal program in a way it sees fit.
The city administration deems it more practical and less expensive than actually building and developing the city’s own landfill site that is safer, farther from the communities and thus better for them and the environment.
Maybe developing a landfill is a lost cause, never an option in the first place. Or a shared landfill other than the one in Consolacion may be a better choice. Cebu City residents are left to wonder if the city’s garbage situation will improve with the administration’s more expensive, short-term band-aid program.