Scientific, systematic approach

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has called upon the city government to adopt a scientific and systematic approach to address the garbage crisis in the city.

Councilor Rey Gealon said he authored the resolution approved the other week that called for such an approach to the problem because of what he called the widespread violations instead of compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000).

“In that light, we have to revisit our programs and projects to strengthen our resolve in observance of the law,” he told The Freeman in an interview yesterday.

He said this is the reason why there is a need to conduct a summit to convene all stakeholders for them to come up with a “scientific and systematic approach” to solve the garbage crisis in the city.

He clarified, though, that the garbage disposal problem in the city is still “manageable”, only that it needs an “aggressive” response in terms of segregation at home.

As approved, the City Council recommended the establishment of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for the collection of garbage from the barangays, noting that the Commission on Audit (COA) pointed out that composting facilities located in barangays Taptap and Basak Pardo, which cost P1.9 million and P1.4 million, respectively, are not in used.

The COA also noted that the City Government still needs to fully implement the 2011 grant of P53 million from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) supposedly to build three MRFs.

“While the city has three MRFs, only one of the facilities is currently functioning with a recycling facility,” Gealon said.

Quoting an excerpt from the COA report, Gealon the city is “not giving many levels of priority and importance to the methods of composting and recycling to drive waste diversion in the overall solid waste management (SWM) system."

State auditors also discovered that the City is "not prioritizing composting and recycling due to the non-establishment or insufficient number of MRFs."

That is why the City Council urged the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CCENRO) to conduct a solid waste management summit to gather government officials and private stakeholders.

 This summit, the City Council said, would be conducted “in order to birth a scientific and systematic approach to the garbage crisis toward a sustainable and effective solution, in (the) light of COA's findings.”

In another resolution also filed by Gealon, the council also called on the CCENRO to establish an “ideally fully functional MEF” for the barangays to replicate, and directed I to submit a detailed action plan in 30 days.

The council likewise requested the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) to provide “technical and financial assistance to all barangays” for this purpose.

The City Council said this is in line with the mandate of RA 9003, which provides that an MRF should be established in every barangay or cluster of barangays to meet the “legislated mandatory waste diversion, and indicates that the barangays are responsible for collecting, segregating, and recycling biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, and reusable waste.”

“Considering that the cleanliness of our city is a shared responsibility, we call upon our constituents to responsibly throw their garbage properly and for DPS (Department of Public Services) to collect them instantly so as not to let these piles of garbage scatter everywhere gravely posing a hazard to health and wellbeing,” read the resolution. (CEBU NEWS)