Peewee: Pasay City stinks

Re-elected Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad said yesterday the previous administration left the city literally stinking and pinpointed areas where the garbage problem has reached alarming proportions.

“They left the city literally stinking. There are piles of uncollected garbage in many streets. We are addressing this major problem, and we will take concrete action the soonest time possible,” Trinidad said.

Solid Waste Management Office chief Benjamin Reyes said  the areas that should be cleaned up as soon as possible are Sun Valley on Airport Road; the street in front of Don Carlos Revilla Elementary School in Barangay 187; the Ever Gotesco terminal area near the Baclaran-Pasay boundary; Sgt. Mariano street in Barangay 148; Barangay 41; the corner of D. Jorge and Tolentino streets; M. dela Cruz street; C. Jose Street in Malibay; Aurora Boulevard; F. B. Harrison and Taft Avenue near Protacio Street, among others.

Cristina Eshmawi, Eco-waste Technical Support Operations head, said the irregular garbage collection in the city can be traced to the previous administration’s move to reduce fees paid to contractors such as Halrey Trucking, Greenline Onyx and R.M. Maintenance.

“They now normally collect three times a week, compared to the daily collection, with a conservative schedule of 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. before. Back then, by 9 a.m. the city is already clean. Now, they collect until 3 p.m. but still, (piles of) garbage on many streets are left stinking,” Eshmawi said.

She added that Trinidad “is unhappy with the garbage collection performance of the haulers contracted by the Panaligan administration. It seems that the root of the inability of the haulers to deliver prompt public service is the reduction in the total cost of hauling, which went down by at least P77 million.”

The garbage collection companies have existing contracts they forged with the previous administration, led by then acting mayor Allan Panaligan, until the end of the year.

During a department head meeting recently, Trinidad said the garbage collection rate is a matter that is hard to explain to ordinary people.

“The Panaligan administration wanted to show us that they could do it with cheaper garbage collection contracts, but look at what is happening to our city now. It’s embarrassing to say this but the city stinks,” Trinidad said.