It’s certainly not pleasant to hear people asking you if they can dump their garbage right in your backyard. That’s essentially Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s proposal to Talisay City Mayor Johnny delos Reyes after the mayor made the decision to permanently close down the Inayawan landfill site.
The Cebu City government’s decision to permanently close the Inayawan landfill may have been long in coming, but it also set itself on a collision course with Talisay City Hall whose officials haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately.
Talisay City’s dumpsite is near the Mananga watershed and located one kilometer away from Talisay City Hall. Vice Mayor Romeo Villarante Jr. raised concerns on the proposed dumping of Cebu City’s garbage shortening the landfill’s lifespan and the possibility of its affecting the health of city government employees and nearby communities.
Even a promised deal for a waste-to-energy facility is no assurance that this temporary arrangement would work as the project would be implemented two years from now, the vice mayor pointed out.
After sweetening his request with the promise of a P10-million tipping fee, Rama threatened to shut off Talisay City’s access to the South Road Properties (SRP) if the Talisay City government refuses his offer. Rama’s threat may reopen old wounds; remember that Talisay City and Cebu City figured in a boundary dispute over the SRP.
All of this would have been avoided if Cebu City Hall crafted a solid waste management program that included finding another suitable landfill site to receive the city’s mounting garbage volume.
There were previous proposals to build a dumpsite in barangay Kalunasan and to transfer the Cebu City jail to another place. The plan didn’t materialize during the time of then mayor Tomas Osmeña and it wasn’t visited during Rama’s previous three-year tenure.
Rama had to put off the closure of the Inayawan landfill site even after he already set up the materials recovery facility that would institute recycling and waste segregation practices in the city.
Old habits die hard and the Inayawan landfill closure, while painful, is ultimately necessary if only to force Cebu City’s barangays to practice solid waste management.
Problem is, Rama closed down the dumpsite without a safety net in place. Instead he made an offer to a politically-divided Talisay City Hall that may be left hanging. As if that’s not enough, Rama is also squabbling with the Cebu City Council over where to assign the dump trucks that would pick up the garbage in several barangays.
Cebu City officials should set aside their political squabbles and resolve the city’s rising garbage problem. The solution may not come overnight, but they should take immediate, decisive action lest the city residents find their streets swimming in garbage.