Cebu City Councilor Nestor Archival says the City Council is working on solving the Kalunasan problem as fast as possible. | CDND PHOTO / Delta Dyrecka Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The residents of Barangay Kalunasan may soon breath the fresh air they have long wanted as the City Government allotted P19.5 million from the 2019 supplemental budget to find solutions to the foul smell emanating from the Cebu City Jail and the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).
Councilor Nestor Archival, chairman of the Cebu City Council task force to hasten the legal interventions to solve Kalunasan’s problem, told reporters on Friday, August 30, that the approval of the budget also means that the city can soon buy suction machines, septic trucks, and septic tanks to collect the human wastes of the inmates of the Cebu City Jail.
Archival said the City Council will be asking the Department of Public Services (DPS) to request for an initial fund of P480,000.
The amount, said Archival, will be used to put up mitigating measures such as increasing the collection of septic wastes from three times to five times a week in order to lessen the impact of the foul smell.
The amount will be sourced from the calamity funds because the council has placed Barangay Kalunasan under a state of calamity on August 22 due to the health risks posed by the foul smell.
“This is an emergency. We need the dislodging (of canals) and we need to outsource that,” said Archival.
The dislodging of canals will start on Monday, September 2, if the P480,000 will be released by then.
The five-times-a week collection of septic wastes may take up to six months before it can be realized because the city needs to buy an additional septic truck.
The city only has one septic truck which is collecting the wastes in Kalunasan so it cannot handle a daily collectioin the mountain barangay.
Archival said they may use the P19.5 million budget to buy additional vacuum pumps to collect the septic wastes from the City Jail.
The city will also close up the canals after declogging them in order to ensure that the smell will no longer plague the nearby residents.
Archival said the City Council is working on hastening the solutions to the Kalunasan problem so the health of the residents will improve.
He said Vice Mayor Michael Rama is in talks with Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to seek for the province’s help in solving the problem since foul smell also emanates from the CPDRC. / celr