Oplan Bangon Sugbo has cleared 80 percent of the major thoroughfares of the city, says Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairperson for infrastructure. | Photo courtesy of CCMTF
CEBU CITY, Philippines — At least 80 percent of Cebu City’s major thoroughfares have been cleared in the first of the city’s Clearing days on December 31, 2021, as part of its Oplan Bangon Sugbo following the aftermath of Typhoon Odette.
“We have deployed a massive clearing operation citywide. We deployed 50 dumptrucks, 12 payloaders, minidumptrucks, and 8 skid loaders,” said Councilor Jerry Guardo, chairperson for infrastructure.
Guardo said the teams were divided into five clusters including the Pardo District, Guadalupe District, Central District, Tinago District, and Talamban Districts.
City personnel were deployed in each district to collect debris, clear roads, and make the pathways passable. The “stay-at-home” policy imposed has helped reduce the traffic load in the streets well allowing a faster operation.
“Very efficient kaayo atong collection. Dako kaayog tabang ang stay-at-home kay giempower sad nato ang barangay motabang,” said Guardo.
Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr., chairperson for the committee on public services, said that 80 percent of the major thoroughfares in the urban barangays have been cleared.
“There was a backlog of 5 days in uncollected garbage due to external factors, on top of the massive amount of debris that piled up and continue to do so daily,” said Rama.
He explained that after the destruction left by Typhoon Odette, garbage collectors, both private and government operators of payloaders were unable to report to work immediately, considering that they, too, were victims of the same calamity.
The city and the barangays were unable to throw garbage in the Binaliw landfill, the city’s contracted landfill, located in a mountain barangay 22 kilometers away, as it was closed for two days due to the typhoon.
Upon its opening on the 3rd day, both the barangays and the city were still unable to dispose of the collected garbage because of an electric post that was left blocking the road on the way to the landfill.
The following days after post was removed, most garbage trucks were then instructed to turn back due to the malfunctioning generator on-site, which was responsible for powering the landfill’s weighing scale.
“Communication was a big challenge as Odette greatly impacted our communication and telecommunications infrastructure. Our gas situation immediately after Typhoon Odette impeded private contractors from fueling their equipment,” said Rama.
These issues were eventually resolved through close coordination with barangay officials in expediting the clearing operations not only in main thoroughfares, but also in interior roads.
Rama thanked the public for helping the clearing operation and for being patient while the city rise up after Odette.
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