CH budget for waste disposal dwindling

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City government only has P107-million budget left for garbage collection and disposal for the remaining six months this year.

Lawyer Jigo Dacua, head of the Department of Public Services (DPS), said most of the P404 million 2021 budget for garbage collection and disposal had been used up. Dacua admitted before the members of the City Council during a special session yesterday that the remaining budget is not enough to get through until December.

Asked how did he spend the almost P300 million,  Dacua explained that part of it was used to pay payables from last year since their 2020 allocation was not enough and had been depleted as early as September but did not get additional funding. 

He assured the council that the money was well-spent for garbage collection and disposal. This is evident by the absence of garbage on the streets, Dacua claimed.

The City Council called for a special session yesterday to discuss the possible declaration of Barangay Inayawan under a state of emergency because of the uncollected garbage at the transfer station following the problem of the city’s private hauler, Docast, with the management of ARN landfill in Barangay Binaliw, Cebu City.

ARN landfill barred Docast from dumping garbage in Binaliw since June 19 because of its failure to pay its obligation amounting to P18 million. Despite the problem, Dacua said there is no need to declare Inayawan under a state of emergency because the problem of uncollected garbage at the transfer station is now being addressed by Docast.

He said the private hauler is now dumping at Consolacion pending resolution of its problem with ARN landfill. The council is set to resume the discussion on the matter on July 8.

Meanwhile, Councilor Nestor Archival has questioned why the city government through the DPS and the barangays is directly dumping garbage at Binaliw when it is supposed to be the private hauler’s responsibility. — FPL (FREEMAN)