Some relatives line up to visit their jailed family members on Christmas Day, December 25, 2022, at the Cebu City Jail Male Dormitory. | Photo by CCJMD
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said that he will examine the bidding issue concerning the delayed progress of the project addressing the waste management crisis at the Cebu City Jail (CCJ) in Barangay Kalunasan, here.
According to reports, the Cebu City Jail is facing dire waste management crisis.
A project to address this issue is in the works but it has not been bided out yet. Rama said that there is a bidding process for the project which he will now try to look into.
He added that he is now “very serious” about removing and replacing people from City Hall if they choose not to listen to his mandate.
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“Dili man ako’y mo bid out [kay] naa may bidding. Mao ng ako nasad ng tugkaron kay mao mana akong warning nila. Nangiha na gani kog gobernador kamo na nuon diha sa city hall [ang] di nako tangtangon kay wa ninyo trabahoa?… I am very very serious. Dili gani mo mutuo nako, pangilisdan jud nako,” Rama said during his Ingna’ng Mayor Program over Sinugboanon Channel on March 26.
Rama said the budget allocated for the project was around P100 million. Despite this allocation, the project has yet to materialize, leaving the Cebu City Jail vulnerable to sanitation problems affecting the area around the Guadalupe River.
Further, Rama emphasized the importance of the project and his efforts to push it forward during his tenure previously as vice mayor.
“Naa na ko before, mao na akong follow-upon na. Kay ang direction nako, I was even telling… proceed, move, kay importante kay na diha. Naa na’y kwarta na [and] that’s my project,” he said.
The Cebu City Jail is located across the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC). Both facilities are close to the Guadalupe River.
Overflowing septic tank
Meanwhile, City Councilor Nestor Archival noted the urgency of solving the matter in an online news and commentary program on March 25.
The councilor said that there is already an act of discharging wastewater into the bodies of water as the septic tank of the Cebu City Jail is already overflowing.
He added that this violates environmental laws and poses risk to public health.
“Naa gyud na gilabay sa kanal or padulong sa river, so it’s really a disaster. Timan-i kanang Guadalupe River kay usa na sa gikuhaan nato og water kay naa nay tubig sa ilawom,” Archival said.
“Imagine, there are 9,000 PDL who use the CR (comfort room) twice or thrice in one day and all of these are going down into the canal, going down to the river,” he added.
He even raised concern regarding the project’s funds because he heard that 50 percent of it has been diverted to other programs.
However, Archival added that no evidence yet can support the said claim as he cannot validate the report because of what he claims as the inefficiency of the City Hall to deal with documents and paperwork.