CEBU, Philippines - The newly-elected Labangon, Cebu City Barangay Captain Victor Buendia has filed a complaint against the City Government before the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly failing to fulfill its job of collecting garbage.
Buendia, an ally of opposition group Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK), alleged that City Department of Public Services (DPS) garbage collectors "do not regularly do their job."
He said he received many complaints on uncollected garbage, which made him "come to the conclusion that the city government is inefficient, ineffective and useless."
"We are so frustrated. Our situation does not justify the mayor's all-too-familiar statement (wala’y politika, serbisyo lang ni akoa) or something to that effect," the barangay chief said in his Dec. 12 complaint.
Garbage, he said, is not even the only problem his barangay got with City Hall.
"We also have a problem with the fuel allocation of our garbage trucks, the ambulance that was not turned-over, street lighting, significant projects and implementation of projects put on hold, and almost every basic and general service (one) can one think of," Buendia said.
Tomas Tan, president of Cebu Ad Consultants, Inc., backed Buendia's allegations.
"(Our) office is conveniently located along the road where the garbage trucks would regularly pass by, that there is no reason why the garbage cannot be collected," Tan said.
He said, though, that the trucks they saw were already filled to the very top of garbage.
Tan recalled that on November 19, DPS promised to collect the garbage at dawn, but no one came, prompting him to remind the office through a letter on Nov. 27.
"It would take us at least four telephone calls to your office before someone would come to collect the garbage," read part of the letter.
Also, Buendia said that "in spite of numerous endorsements and requests for services, we get little to no feedback."
The FREEMAN tried to get the side of DPS Chief Dionisio Gualiza but he was unavailable as of press time.
"We pay garbage fees to the city, therefore, we can demand service from the city government, "Buendia said.
He said that because the City is not doing its job, his barangay is the one doing the work just so the people get the service they need.
"In order to remain true to public service, we rescue what is supposed to be the job of the city. I even provide the fuel for the garbage truck out of my own pocket because the city does not give us fuel allocation," he added. (FREEMAN)