Garganera: Osmeña ‘failure’ as a leader

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera has described Mayor Tomas Osmeña as a “failure” for not having solved the garbage problem in the city.

Garganera, a member of the opposition, slammed the mayor for spending a huge amount of public funds for garbage collection.

“To me, he is trying to impress that he is a visionary (leader), he is a failure. Ask anybody or anyone around in the City of Cebu...In terms of flood and in terms of garbage. Atong tan-awn, asa naman tang dapita? Are we satisfied? Are we contented?” Garganera said.

Garganera accused Osmeña of mismanagement of garbage collection despite appropriating millions of funds for waste disposal. He said that Osmeña spent three times the amount allocated for garbage disposal by the previous administration.

“Look, limpyo ba ang atoang palibot, do we deserve this kind of service? Sauna niining 2015 to 2016, grabe ang gubat sa basura. Dili magpataka og kuha ang atoang garbage trucks tungod kay gipasakyan og Barangay Environmental Officers (BEOs) who are very strict in implementing the segregation,” Garganera said.

The data from the City Accounting Office showed that the city spent P111.3 million in 2016; P405.4 million in 2017; and P509.6 million in 2018. This year the city earmarked P590.5 million for trash collection.

The city has engaged the services of a private contractor to dispose of its garbage since December 2016 after the Inayawan landfill was closed. It is paying at least P1,200 per ton of garbage in tipping fee.

Garganera said that during the administration of then mayor Michael Rama, the city had only allocated P157.6 million, which is three times lower than the current appropriation.

“Bear in mind, the mayor is accusing then the former mayor Michael Rama that the garbage budget he appropriated for disposal was anomalous and then matud pa niya mao’y source of corruption and our budget is P157 million only,” he said.

“I would like the mayor to find a term for this because he accused the previous administration nga ang budget nila was anomalous. I don’t know, unsa ang iyahang iterm ani...Ingon siya anomaloso to sauna, kini sobra paman ni sa times three,” he added.

Garganera said the public can tell whether the city has been efficient in addressing the garbage problem. Osmeña was not available for comment. (FREEMAN)