Osmeña says guidelines on unspent funds have not been followed
Trucks owned by the Cebu city government wait for their turn to dump the city’s garbage in a private-owned landfill in barangay Pulog, Consolacion town, norhthern Cebu in this CDN file photo.
Cebu City officials are scrambling for ways to continue trucking garbage to a private sanitary landfill in Consolacion town.
The Cebu City Council again set aside a proposal allocating P50 million of unused calamity funds for landfill tipping fees.
During an executive session yesterday, Councilor Margot V. Osmeña said there are steps to follow before the proposal could be approved.
Osmeña, who heads the committee on budget and finance, noted that the guidelines on using unspent balances were not followed such as submission of a revised Annual Investment Plan (AIP).
“There’s no doubt that this (garbage) can result in an emergency. It should be collected. But my concern is that we should do it properly. We have to follow procedures,” she said.
A tipping fee or gate fee is levied on wastes dumped in the landfill to offset the cost of operating the dumpsite.
The Cebu city government pays P700 per ton of waste as tipping fee to the private-run landfill.
The volume of garbage brought to Consolacion has increased since the Jan. 15 closure of the Inayawan landfill.
Cebu City generates around 460 tons of waste a day.
READ: ‘Higher fees for businesses with more garbage’
Councilor Osmeña said the may not have actual funds available.
She cited the Daily Cash Report as of April 29, which showed that the trust fund for the calamity fund contains only P8.69 million.
“Where is the P162 million? This must have been collected already since the amount is supposedly from previous years,” she said.
Councilor Hanz Abella proposed two weeks ago that P50 million of the unused P162-million calamity funds in 2011, 2012 and 2014 be used to cover the tipping fees.
READ: City Hall needs P15M to pay for garbage fees
Osmeña requested the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) to submit a report on the status of the disaster funds of the city to determine whether there are actual funds that can be used.
After a brief recess, Councilor Gerardo Carillo suggested that the council approve the resolution with a caveat that the executive should follow the guidelines.
These guidelines are listed in a joint memorandum circular by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
But Osmeña said the city government might not be able to pay the tipping fees immediately.
“Can we pay immediately? I don’t think we have the reputation of paying immediately. In view of COA (Commission on Audit) citations, we have to be careful. Where’s the P50 million? There’s only P8.7 million in the trust fund account,” she said.
After the session, former councilor Edu Rama said they’ll have to look for temporary solutions to the problem. Rama heads the Gubat sa Basura program.
“We have to go back to the drawing board. We’ll talk with the stakeholders and find a temporary solution. Maybe we can ask for a leeway or an extension on the payment. Or we can open the landfill, but the mayor won’t agree to that,” Rama said.
The Department of Public Services (DPS) was granted a P51-million budget allocation for this year. It had asked for P127 million to cover the tipping fees for the whole year. The approved budget was only expected to last until the end of April.