'State of emergency' eyed for trash woes

CEBU, Philippines — Acting Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is contemplating on declaring a state of emergency or calamity in Barangay Inayawan to address the “sorry state” of the city’s garbage disposal system.

But Inayawan barangay captain Kirk Bryan Repollo said such declaration will be useless if politics will come in the way.

“In just a few weeks serving as acting mayor of Cebu, I have come to realize the sorry state of our garbage disposal. This is truly a cause of concern, not only of the Cebu City government but the whole citizenry of the City,” Rama said in a press conference at the Cebu City Hall’s Social Hall yesterday.

The problem at hand is that the garbage collected from different barangays in Cebu City end up being stalled at the transfer station in Inayawan because the contracted garbage hauler of the city has been refused to dump at a landfill in Binaliw due to its supposed financial obligations.

Docast ready to settle?

Rama is bent on having the city government and the civil society acting as one to address the problem in Inayawan first.

“Last Wednesday, I visited the transfer station in Barangay Inayawan. Mind you, the situation there is beyond comprehension. Piles of garbage can be found everywhere and the stench is unbearable causing so much inconvenience and threat to the health of over 6,000 households within the area,” he said.

Apart from the threat to the health of residents, Rama also took notice of the road condition in Inayawan that, he said, added injury to the situation.

John Javier, general manager of DOCAST, denied that its firm has P18 million in unpaid dues to the landfill operator ARN Waste Management Inc. He said he was even ready to settle things with the latter but was allegedly not allowed to enter ARN’s office.

DOCAST does not have its own transfer station for the north and south districts. Neither Javier nor Department of Public Services (DPS) head John Jigo Dacua commented on this matter.

Dacua said that though he was part of the Bids and Awards Committee, he was not in a position to speak on the committee’s behalf. He promised that DPS will continue to serve the Cebuanos.

For his part, Acting Vice Mayor Donaldo Hontiveros has also expressed his full support to address the city’s garbage problem and is willing to form a task force in the City Council to this end.

He said a series of meetings are taking place already to address the situation in Inayawan but he is also open to the possibility of declaring a state of emergency or a state of calamity in Inayawan if needed.

Fell on deaf ears?

Meanwhile, Repollo said that he had long lobbied for the fixing of the road leading to the transfer station in Inayawan but the request appeared to have fallen on deaf ears.

“If only our concern had been addressed when I raised the road condition in 2019 after I appeared in the city council session. If DPS is just fully conversant (or if they have knowledge but they just turned a blind eye) on the terms of reference in the bidding documents for the bidding for the private hauler and if only the Cebu City government had not been too focused in trying to politicize Barangay Inayawan in the hope of paralyzing me as the barangay captain, then there should have been no need to declare a state of emergency or calamity,” Repollo lamented.

Repollo also aired his gripe over the Mayor’s Information and Liaison Office (MILO) of Inayawan which has a “direct line” to the Office of the Mayor.

“What had they been doing? If, indeed, they would pursue the declaration of a state of emergency or calamity, would they stop politicking the services? Would they coordinate with the barangay and not on their useless MILO?” he said.

Repollo said declaring a state of emergency or calamity will just be a waste of funds if the current administration will politicize the situation.

“But they should just make sure that whatever funds will be released, it should be properly accounted for. There should be itemization and cost of the scope of the declaration and proper liquidation later because I don’t want that Barangay Inayawan be used as a possible money- making venture by anyone,” said Repollo.

Repollo earlier filed a complaint against Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella and Department of Public Services (DPS) head John Jigo Dacua before the Office of the Ombudsman due to uncollected garbage in his barangay but Labella labeled it as a “cheap shot.” —JMD (FREEMAN)