Connecting garbage dots

Children are taught to connect dots to complete certain images. Teachers (more than parents, most of the time) apply patience and understanding in guiding their wards to the dots to connect in order to achieve desired ends. I have seen such inspiring scenes with my own grandchildren creating discernible features out of seemingly purposeless points. Like children, senior citizens too, have their own activity that is not totally unlike that of the young kids’ developmental exercises. To while away some idle time, elders give life to otherwise drab pictures with their choices of colors as they do “adult coloring books”. Such activity keeps their minds sharp and their physical selves active. My lady, Carmen, does this during those times when she is free from monitoring the cash flow of her business.

There was a picture of the new garbage trucks that arrived in our city that saw print in our local dailies last week. These new equipment were inaugurated (i do not know if inaugurated is the appropriate word to use) and launched for service in our city. Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella naturally sounded ecstatic with the arrival of these units reportedly worth almost one quarter of a billion pesos because collection of the city’s solid waste ranked high in the ten point agenda the mayor mentioned during his inaugural speech. Well, i considered the picture as one imaginary dot in the context that i mentioned above.

Few days ago, another picture was carried in one of our newspapers. This time, it was a picture of mounds of uncollected garbage although i failed to get its exact location. In any case, it was admittedly an image uncomplimentary to Mayor Labella as it was nauseating to us his constituents. Considering that huge piles of waste can be seen all over the city, the photo journalist appeared wanting to score on the massive failure of the four-month old city administration to cleanse our city of its refuse. It was his way of telling the mayor that something did not work (should be, is not working) well in the aspect of sanitation. Well, for purposes of this article, i also consider that picture as another imaginary dot.

A news report yesterday figuratively connected the imaginary dots. But, unlike the children’s dot connection that would exact a smile, frown came forth. In fact, I was disturbed because the news revealed that the twenty one new garbage compactor trucks purchased yet in the previous administration cannot be used for being undocumented. My goodness, these new units are reportedly without the Certificates of Registration and Official Receipts supposedly to be issued by the Land Transportation Office. How come these were driven from the seller’s compound, wherever it is, to Cebu City, sans valid documents? Terrible things could have happened along the way! In practice, these papers should have been delivered together with the trucks and handed over to the city.

Even the way the news was written, it exacted attention. The units were bought from Hino Philippines but the head of the city’s Department of General Services was not sure if the seller is based in Manila. I am using the words “exacted attention” because many years ago, the city also bought a supposedly brand new dump truck that on physical examination showed such signs of repairs as to indicate that it was not brand new. Of course, that was an entirely different story even if the name of the seller then, to my recollection, sounded as the same source as is the reported supplier of these compactor trucks.