Pesquera wants barangays to get share in garbage fees

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera is proposing a 30 percent share to the barangays in garbage fees collected by the city government from business establishments.

Pesquera said the barangays are also supporting the city government in the collection of garbage.

“The importance of the support of the barangays in maintaining cleanliness and sanitation in the City of Cebu; it is but proper that the barangays will also share in the income generated from the imposition of garbage fees,” reads a portion of Pesquera’s  proposed ordinance.

The proposed ordinance was already referred to the committee on laws, ordinances, and styling for comments and recommendations.

In the proposed measure, Pesquera said that 30 percent of the garbage fees collections should be accrued to the barangay where the real properties and business establishments are located while 70 percent will go to the city’s coffers.

As of March 31, Pesquera said the City Treasurer’s Office has collected at least P65.2 million in garbage fees. While the barangays are helping the city government in the garbage collection, she said that the barangays are not given portion of the fees.

Pesquera said barangays are using their budget for the garbage collection but they are not earning from it.

“In 2010, the barangays were no longer allowed to charge the Clean and Green Program against their Local Development Fund and that the expenses for the garbage collection have considerably drained their resources,” she said.

The proposed measure is an amendment to the City Ordinance 1361 establishing a system for garbage collection and imposing fees therefor.

Association of Barangay Councils Cebu City Chapter President Franklyn Ong welcomed the proposed measure. However, Ong said the first thing to be reviewed is the amount of garbage fees that the city government is collecting.

“I think it’s really small. Very very small ra gyud. I cannot remember the figure. Daghan na kaayong condominiums, restaurants, hotels sa syudad nga angay kolektahan og garbage fees and I think dapat mao nay unang i-review nato sa council kon pila ang ilang gibayad,” he told The FREEMAN.

While he supports the move to give barangays its share, Ong said there should be a guideline and matrix especially to those establishments that are producing large volume of garbage.

Ong said he will ask the proponent to look into the amount of the garbage fees and possibly incorporate in the measure the garbage fees matrix. As of now, Ong said the barangays are more focused on collecting garbage from residential areas including subdivisions and compounds.

He said the city government is basically collecting the garbage produced by big establishments. (FREEMAN)