City council approves P2.1M for garbage transporting

3 MIN READ

By LYN V. RAMO
www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — Already criticized for hauling out garbage, the city council here Monday approved the release of some P2.1 million to bring out piling since August 23 as an emergency measure unable to do away with transporting.

Council members deferred the approval of the remainder of the P19 million earlier requested to defray emergency hauling expenses on May 15 to 30 that reached almost P9 million, the proposed hauling of the 100-ton garbage piled at the Irisan dumpsite, the deficit for August , which is almost P4 million and the and the remaining for September, P3.9 million.

It also deferred action on the release of some P30.566 million estimated hauling costs up to December 31 and the proposed hiring of additional 15 drivers and 15 helpers on a job order status.
The Council only approved the emergency hauling for August 23 to September,which is estimated at P2.1 million, despite earlier certification of availability of funds.

The local finance committee estimated the cost of garbage collection and hauling up to the end of the year at some P50 million, with only P19 million certified available funds and the remaining would be sourced out from departmental savings, according to the finance department report earlier presented last week.
The public query as to when the city ceases from hauling out its garbage ends with the city environment and parks management office (CEPMO) presentation before the city council citing there is no engineered sanitary landfill here until 2011.

City Environment Management Officer Cordelia Lacsamana, presenting the status of the engineered sanitary landfill (ESL) and the materials recovery facilities (MRFs), said the city is lagging behind its three-year action plan.

ESL zero accomplishment irks
The ESL is yet on its pre-development stages, Lacsamana clarified . The Sto. Tomas property the city council earlier identified is yet to undergo a topography and relocation survey. Its contract is ready for awarding to a group of surveyors who asked for a 50% advance payment, reportedly not allowed by by Philippine audit rules.

Lacsamana added research is going on for the terms of reference (TOR) for consultancy services for the development stages of the ESL.

Councilor Fred L. Bagbagen who said he speaks Latin when he is angry was apparently upset that after one year that the council identified the ESL site, there was zero accomplishment .

According to Lacsamana, the three-year action plan for the city’s ecological solid waste management program started in October 2007 with the launching of the “no segregation, no collection” policy. The city targetted to finish in June 2008, at least 17 MRFs in barangay clusters to lessen the volume of wastes at the Irisan dumpsite. Only operating at present with no waste processing machines.

The Irisan dumpsite is due for its final closure third quarter this year. Its retaining wall rehabilitated with some P11 million in city funds it is expected to accommodate more residual wastes and lessen the garbage hauled out to Capas, Tarlac.

Alternative to hauling
Many councilors posted possible solutions to ease the garbage haulout, which eats up a hefty P8.6 million monthly. Councilor Nicasio Aliping said the city should instead concentrate on alternative technologies to reduce the hauling of garbage. He even contemplated at the idea of utilizing the Irisan dumpsite for an ESL but yielded to Lacsamana when she said it would take 15 years for the closed dumpsite to stabilize and any new garbage piled would push the dump into a trashslide.

Councilor Galo Weygan insisted on getting the MRFs functional with the purchase of composting machines. He earlier protested the alleged deal for a one-tonner bio-reactor machine, which would cost P1 million each.
Some P21 million is intended for the purchase of composting machines. At P3 million for each MRF, only seven, not 17, MRFs may be installed in the city’s 128 barangays, according to Councilor Alangsab, also Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) president.

Councilor Richard A. Cariño and Isabelo B. Cosalan reminded the council of five more target sites earlier identified by the technical working group, namely Virac in Itogon; Puyupoy in Tuba; Sablan; Tinongdan, Iogon; and the open pit mining site in Loacan, Itogon, in that order. Cariño proposed for a simultaneous area study in Virac and Puyupoy for the city to have alternative sites in case the Sto. Tomas property is declareed not feasible due to its inaccessibility.

Councilor Rocky Thomas Balisong proposed the privatization of hauling to minimize on costs. One city-owned hauler truck needs P19,149 per trip, or some P2,451 cheaper than the private haulers the city hired earlier. Balisong said the interim action up to 2011 is hauling that the city might as well bid out hauling and collection to private contractors.

In his report, Councilor Erdolfo V. Balajadia, committee chair of health and sanitation, ecology and environmental protection, identified the 80-ton piled at the Irisan dumpsite as an immediate problem. He also pointed out that the unfinished retaining wall which would allow more residual waste; the non-operational seven trucks and the non-operational MRFs in barangay clusters as calling immediate attention if the councilors were to address the garbage issue.

“We in the government should get our acts together,” Balajadia said. # nordis.net