SRP ‘isn’t a dump’
Ex-mayor Rama says he’ll defend investors, welcomes CA ruling
Roberto Cabarrubias, chief of the Department of Public Services (DPS), says the transfer station in the SRP can hold only 5 to 10 days’ worth of garbage; he also points out that when Michael Rama was mayor, the City used a transfer station in the SRP, too City Hall will deodorize the transfer station, he adds, and move the garbage after 5 to 10 days DPS will prepare today a purchase request for a new landfill, which will require a public bidding Not yet clear how Rama can help SRP investors
FORMER mayor Michael Rama promised to defend investors in the South Road Properties (SRP), following the Cebu City mayor’s order to deposit garbage in a vacant lot there.
While he announced that in a press conference, a Cebu City official assured that City Hall is working to acquire a new landfill.
Cebu City has a P120-million budget for its garbage. Former councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, chief of the De- partment of Public Services (DPS), said the DPS will prepare today its purchase request for a new landfill, which will require a public bidding.
Both Cabarrubias and Mayor Tomas Osmeña have said the vacant lot where the city’s garbage got sent last Saturday is a transfer station, not a permanent dump.
Mayor Osmeña ordered the use of a transfer station in the SRP two days after the 19th Division of the Court
of Appeals (CA) told the City to close the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill for good.
“The CA decision was promulgated last Dec. 15. We don’t want to commit contempt. We are already doing our very best to close the landfill, but if we can’t find a new facility, the more the city will get dirty,” Cabarrubias said.
As to the stench, Cabarrubias said there are readily available eco-friendly deodorizers that will be used to contain it.
For Rama, however, the City officials’ latest actions don’t smell right.
“I will defend the investors in the area because we did not make the South Road Properties (SRP) to become a landfill,” Rama said.
That deal
The transfer station is located near the DPS compound and the property of Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).
“The investors there, they did not buy property that will be a dumpsite. It’s also a challenge for them, but I’ve always been ready to defend their side. The SRP, if I remember, was only made to have an MRF (material recovery facility),” Rama told reporters in a press conference in the Rama Compound yesterday.
The former mayor commended the appeals court for “re-echoing” his reasons for previously ordering the closure of the Inayawan landfill when he was mayor.
Asked about the alleged absence of a contract between the City Government and Asian Energy Systems Corp., the former mayor suggested filing a lawsuit against the operator to resolve the issue.
Asian Energy Systems Corp. operates the private sanitary landfill in Barangay Polog, Consolacion where the City previously dumped its garbage. After Osmeña took over as mayor last July, the City stopped that arrangement and reopened the Inayawan landfill.
“There was a budget and an approved ordinance. Once the ordinance is complete in its structure, the duty of the executive, if I’m not mistaken, is just to execute it. That’s why a purchase order is a form of contract authorized under the budget ordinance,” he said.
Other sites
Around 3:45 p.m. last Dec. 17, garbage trucks that belong to the City and some barangays started throwing trash on the vacant lot in the SRP.
Cabarrubias, for his part, said the transfer station in the SRP will serve as a temporary holding facility for the city’s trash until the City Government can find a new landfill.
Since the area, part of the SRP’s City Hall block, can only accommodate around 600 tons of garbage, Cabarrubias said that officials have surveyed other areas in the SRP where the waste can be temporarily stored.
He said they’re looking at a lot between the property of FLI and Seaside City Cebu, and an area near the entrance to the SRP, near the unused tower.
As for warnings that the City is violating the law, Cabarrubias clarified that the City is only using the lot temporarily.
“What differs between a transfer station and a dumpsite is that dumping is permanent. A transfer station is temporary. After specific days, the trash will be pulled out and transferred to a landfill,” he said in an interview yesterday.
Temporary
He pointed out that a transfer station was also used by the previous administration after Rama ordered the closure of the Inayawan Landfill.
The transfer station, which was inside the Department of General Services (previously the General Services Office), however, was smaller than the newly established one in the SRP.
Aside from the lot between the property of FLI and Seaside City Cebu, the City Government may also use an old DPS transfer station near the University of the Philippines property in the SRP.
“We’re eyeing small-cut lots in between SM and FLI and also near the welcome hill. That’s what we’re preparing. At the same time, we’re now doing the purchase request for next year’s budget,” Cabarrubias said.
With a P120-million approved budget for garbage, the DPS chief said they will prepare today the purchase request for a new landfill, followed by a public bidding.
After a winning bidder is awarded, the service provider can start hauling garbage, he said.