Tomas’s threats
Mayor to dump waste at SRP if council denies P600-M budget for landfill rehab
WE WILL dump the garbage at the South Road Properties (SRP) or in front of the Cebu City Hall Legislative Building.
This is the warning of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to the City Council should the latter decide to approve only P85 million of the P600 million he allocated for the post-closure rehabilitation of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill in the 2017 annual budget.
“I have to tell the court I’m planning to bid out, but how can you bid out without the availability of funds? They’re just so bitter, they’re blinded already. And they say they’re not obstructionists. Very funny. They’re hoping that the people will blame me. I’ll tell the court that I’m not given money by these people who are filing the case against me,” he told reporters in his news conference yesterday.
The Court of Appeals has given the City Government until Dec. 31 to operate the landfill before it will be shut down on Jan. 1.
“Not an excuse”
The council, for its part, said the slashing of the P600-million allocation was due to the Department of Public Services (DPS) and City Planning Office’s failure to provide an explanation.
Osmeña said that even so, it is “not an excuse” to slash the appropriation because it was a lump sum allocation that needed the council’s approval.
“They’re just trying to block it. If there’s a lump sum appropriation, we can bid it out. Whatever
Osmeña says he cannot bid out the postclosure rehabilitation of the landfill in Inayawan without the funds The Team Rama-dominated City Council, for its part, says the slashing of the budget to P85 million was due to the Department of Public Services and the City Planning Office’s failure to provide an explanation for the amount Councilor Joel Garganera, for his part, challenges the mayor to be true to his word and dump the garbage wherever he wants
the details, I have no idea. I just want to be able to bid it out. It’s open bidding. But because they’ve blocked it out, I can’t even bid it out,” he said.
He pointed out that although he has no details on the bidding, the budget would have covered hauling expenses and the development of a new landfill, among others.
The mayor lamented that the only feasible thing to do with P85 million is to dump the trash at the SRP as the amount won’t be enough to cover all garbage-related concerns in the city.
Following this pronouncement, he said he might file a case against the council for harassment for “making a hazardous condition.”
Councilor Joel Garganera, for his part, challenged Osmeña to be true to his word.
“Let him do it. Let him dump the garbage in the areas where he want to dump it and we will see,” he said.
No methodology
Garganera, who is chair of the committee on environment, explained that even during the budget hearing, Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) Head Lito Vasquez was unable to present the rehabilitation methodology for the post-closure plan, the time frame and the equipment needed.
Garganera, Vasquez and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 met two weeks ago to discuss the technical knowhow on the rehabilitation.
“I presumed that they knew the technical aspect and explain as to how they came up with the figure, but they couldn’t. I asked Vasquez, but up to now he has not answered me because he, too, is still in limbo. I asked EMB for their assessment and what they showed was that the rehabilitation only needed an estimated P85 million,” he said.
The amount includes soil covering for the 13-hectare facility, perimeter fencing, maintenance, manpower, vegetation and overhead, among others.
“He can’t just let (us) swallow the P600 million hook line and sinker without specifics. His Cenro and DPS point person are not even aware of how he came up with the amount. But if he can justify it, why not? Besides, we can always do supplemental. On top of that we appropriated at least P100 miilon for the disposal of our garbage to another landfill. The problem with them is that they come up with a figure without consulting their technical people,” Garganera said.