Cebu City Council approves JVA for WTE facility in divided house

Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, chairperson of the committee on environment,  says that the Cebu City Council’s approval of the joint venture agreement with a private company for the waste to energy facility will help address the city’s garbage problem. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has managed to approve the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) of the city government with New Sky Energy Philippines Inc. for a waste-to-energy facility.

The JVA was passed with 9-5-2 votes, or a majority votes from 8 members of the administration bloc plus an independent member approving the project, 5 objections mostly from the opposition bloc, and 2 abstentions.

The approving majority councilors included Raymond Garcia, James Cuenco, Joel Garganera, Niña Mabatid, Jerry Guardo, Renato Osmeña, Jr., Eduardo Rama, Jr., and Philip Zafra.

Independent councilor, David Tumulak, also approved the project.

The minority councilors who objected the project included Councilors Nestor Archival, Alvin Dizon, Eugenio Gabuya, Jr., Leah Japson, and Franklyn Ong.

Councilors Jocelyn Pesquera of the administration bloc and Jessica Resch of the opposition bloc have abstained from voting over the issue.

With this, Mayor Michael Rama is now given the authority with his prerogative to sign the JVA that would allow the construction of a 6-hectare waste-to-energy facility in the city that should be operational within 40 years.

Councilors Archival and Gabuya vehemently opposed the project for various concerns including the lack of a stipulated space for the project.

“Ngano mag JVA man ta ani? That’s my point. I cannot fathom ngano, dili kasabot. I object,” said Archival.

(Why would we have a JVA for that? That’s the point. I cannot fathom why, I don’t understand. I object.)

New Sky Energy will be given 365 days from the signing of the JVA to find a space that should be under their ownership outside the Cebu Protected Landscape and must meet all environmental regulations.

Gabuya said that this fact alone already would bring to question why such a JVA should be approved when it lacked the major requirements of a WTE, which was a place to build it.

Ong said that there are many portions of the JVA that had been unclear and must be clarified. Furthermore, the copy of the JVA that the council members received on the day of the session is different from the copy that the Adhoc committee approved.

Councilor Dizon strongly opposed the project in totality insisting that WTE were harmful to the environment and would be detrimental to the environment.

“For an environmentally critical project like this one, WTE. The. environmental impact assessment, the feasibility study report, and proposed project site should be presented before us. I also submit, Mr. Chairman, that a public hearing is necessary before we approve this measure…I also maintain that WTE technologies will put our local communities at a disadvantage because they emit signifacant amount of greenhouse gases,” said Dizon.

In the end, the administration bloc prevailed and the JVA was passed.

The right path

Councilor Garganera, chairperson for the committee environment, said in an interview on March 10, 2022, that the WTE would be the long term solution the city would need for its massive garbage problem.

The councilor said that developed countries such as Denmark and Japan and others had WTE facilities yet they managed to reduce the production of garbage from the household to business level as well.

The councilor assured the public that the WTE was part of the bigger solution in waste reduction.

“It doesn’t mean nga mag WTE ta, di na pud ta magrecycle. We will do that simultaneously. Atoa lang is that our garbage has somewhere beneficial to go. Landfills are the worst things for our city,” said Garganera.

(It doesn’t mean that if we go WTE, we will not practice recycling. We will do that simultaneously. For us is that our garbage has somewhere beneficial to go. Landfills are the worst things for our city.)

He also noted that the WTE New Sky was proposing that it would produce 18 megawatts of energy that could power at least 16,000 households.

The councilor urged residents to be open-minded for the new technologies surrounding WTE as the modern facilities already had reduced impact to the environment.

With the passing of the WTE, Garganera said the city would be gearing towards the right direction in solving its perennial garbage problem.

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