DPS chief to loaders: Collect, don’t sort garbage or else …

Garbage loaders are given shorter time to stay in one collection point. | Brian Ochoa

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Garbage trucks will no longer be allowed to linger longer in a spot while collecting garbage at night, and loaders and collectors will not be allowed to sort trash while collecting them.

Lawyer John Jigo Dacua, new Department of Public Services (DPS) head, issued this order after Mayor Edgardo Labella observed and complained about the slow collection of garbage in the city.

This was the reason for the reshuffling of department heads which ended with Dacua heading the DPS.

Read more: Lawyer now heads Cebu City’s DPS

Dacua told CDN Digital that this would be one of his biggest challenges as he would take on his new role with the start of the Sinulog festivities.

“I have met with our loaders and collectors, and I told them that they can no longer sort garbage while collecting. If they defy my orders, I will relieve them from service,” said Dacua. 

The new DPS chief said that sacks would no longer be allowed to dangle from the garbage trucks as well because this would defeat the purpose of using compactor trucks for faster collection. 

The mayor said that the new compactor trucks should make the process faster because the garbage would be placed into the truck where a machine would compact them giving more space for more garbage. 

Dacua said they were now closely monitoring the loaders to find out what would cause the delay of the garbarge collection and would impose strict sanctions if proven that they had purposely lingered longer on a spot during garbage collection.

“Naa gyoy uban nga gahig ulo. Ila man gud na iseparate ang pwede pa mabaligya. (Some loaders are hardheaded. They would sort the garbage to get those that could be sold from the trash),” said Dacua. 

He said that this should not happen during the Sinulog when the DPS would only be given a short time to collect the garbage starting from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to avoid the traffic rush.

Dacua said that loaders and collectors should behave and do their jobs diligently to avoid being suspended or terminated./dbs