While 50 percent may be a passing average for some, it’s still not good enough insofar as Cebu City Hall’s garbage collection and disposal efforts are concerned.
This statistic is all the more important in light of the Supreme Court ruling which prohibits the city from using the Inayawan landfill as a dumping site and mandated its complete rehabilitation.
What is important though is that the administration had looked for an alternative landfill site which it found in Barangay Binaliw but this was opposed by the Barug Team Rama bloc who cited lack of transparency as grounds for rejecting the city’s bid.
It was said that the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and officials of Barangay Binaliw issued a cease and desist order against ARN Builders, the company that was supposed to build the landfill site in Binaliw.
If that’s the case, is there any other area in Cebu City that can be developed by the city government as an alternative landfill site?
It is understood that doing this will take years but at least steps can be made to finally build one rather than wait for the province to build a common landfill site.
Again, while the city’s garbage problem had been under the radar for sometime either through better collection or the distraction posed by the traffic congestion at Natalio Bacalso Avenue, it will become visible to the public anew once the rainy season comes to pass when canals and waterways are clogged with uncollected garbage.
City Environment and Natural Resources Officer Nida Cabrera blamed the hardheaded and stubborn attitude of households as the main reason behind the “half-empty, half-full” implementation of the waste segregation program.
But it’s not as if one can expect city residents to change their mindset overnight.
If there is a chance that the 50 percent compliance rate is true, then there is hope that the city residents will eventually come around and start segregating their garbage for easier collection and disposal.
Other factors like lazy drivers, shortage of equipment and lack of garbage receptacles can be corrected at the City Hall and barangay level and barangay officials affiliated on either side of the political fence should not allow politics to influence their commitment to clean their communities.
In fact, barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) candidates and officials running in the May 14 elections should prioritize garbage segregation and collection in their platform of governance since it is one of many visible needs of their constituencies that need immediate attention and resolution.