Cebu City Council scrutinizes contract with Inayawan transfer station contractor

Cebu City DPS head, Lawyer John Jigo Dacua.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council is not impressed with the current contract of the city government with the Inayawan Transfer Station contractor, DOCAST, amounting to P404 million for one year.

The Council held a special session on June 30, 2021, to discuss the possibility of raising a state of emergency in Barangay Inayawan following the piling garbage in the transfer station, which was a result of contractual conflicts between DOCAST and the Binaliw landfill operators, ARN Central Waste Management.

The Council did not raise a state of emergency yet in the barangay as the Department of Public Services (DPS) assured that the garbage is now being disposed to a landfill in Consolacion town and the pile has slowly reduced.

However, the councilors pointed out that the city government is at a disadvantage because of the contract.

According to DPS, the city pays P1,800 per ton disposed of, either through the transfer station or directly to the Binaliw Landfill, to DOCAST. This is the case because DOCAST has an existing contract with the Binaliw Landfill for disposal.

Councilor Nestor Archival pointed out that the Cebu City DPS and the barangays are collecting more garbage and hauling them to the disposal point than the contractor, but all for the same price.

Yet in the purchase order from the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), the P1,800 per ton payment was supposed to include the hauling of the garbage from the transfer station to the landfill.

With this set-up, the city is spending an average of P1.3 million per day for the average 720 tons of garbage collected and disposed of by the DPS, barangays, and DOCAST daily.

“Ngano imo man tagaan ang DOCAST sa full nga P1,800 nga dili man sila ang nagdeliver sa landfill? Sila ray nakakwarta ana. That is very inefficient,” said Archival.

Councilor Philip Zafra pointed further that according to the contract awarded, DOCAST must have 50 garbage trucks, but only 13 trucks are being used to haul garbage in the city.

“Naa ba tay record ana every day nga nakadeploy sila og 50 ka dumptracks. Importante kaayo na kay deliverable man na,” said Zafra.

DPS head, Lawyer John Jigo Dacua, was able to explain that DOCAST was awarded the contract because they were able to show 50 units of garbage trucks and even a transfer station in Barangay Budlaan in the North District during the post-qualification assessment.

Yet the councilors pointed out that DOCAST was not able to provide its deliverables because only 13 trucks are being used and they are using the Binaliw Landfill as a transfer station, a station that is not their property.

DOCAST is yet to respond to queries from the media.

With this, the City Council has agreed to call on the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to be appraised on why the contract was released to DOCAST despite alleged deficiencies in fulfilling their end of the contract.

Furthermore, the council wants to be appraised why it was not informed on the stipulations of the contract between the city government and DOCAST.

Meanwhile, the City Council has also requested the executive department to immediately repair the White Road so that while the DPS and DOCAST continue to fix the piling garbage, the path to do so will finally be fixed.

Recently, Acting Mayor Rama has rallied involved departments to begin fixing the White Road.  /rcg

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