Costly garbage disposal

IT SEEMS like the “former political has-been” is making a fool of the Cebuanos as far as the city's garbage collection is concerned. He is doing what his predecessor did. The only the difference is that he asked authority from the city council to enter into a contract with a service provider and he conducted a public bidding. But it would appear that the present setup is more costly compared to what “has-been” Mayor Mike Rama did and which the “former political hasbeen” described as “highly anomalous.”

Consider this: During Rama's time the city's garbage disposal was done directly and partly through a service provider.

In the north district, the city's garbage collection was done by Department of Public Services (DPS) personnel and directly dumped in the sanitary landfill in Consolacion operated by Asian Energy System Corp. with a tipping fee of P700 per ton. In the south district, garbage collected by DPS personnel was brought to a temporary transfer station in the Inayawan sanitary landfill. The City then hired service providers to haul the trash to its final disposal area which is still in Consolacion with an agreed price of P1,500 per ton for tipping fee and hauling.

I believe the service providers paid the same tipping fee rate of P700 per ton with the remaining P800 as their service charge. One big dump truck can accommodate some 15 tons of garbage.

What was perceived as “highly anomalous” with the old setup was that there was no contract with the service providers and there was no approval from the city council. But Rama contended that a contract with the service providers was not needed because the purchase order (PO) was itself a contract. Then city legal officer Jerome Castillo insisted they have Supreme Court jurisprudence to back their contention.

Also, authority from the city council was not needed because garbage collection and disposal was specified in the budget under the General Fund. Authority was not needed because it was not an infrastructure project. It fell under “operating expenses,” which is an executive prerogative.

But if Rama's setup was anomalous, why didn't the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) stalwarts who dominated the council question it? And what did Councilor Margot Osmeña do? She should have been the first one to press the “alarm button. Why was she mum on it? The anomaly claim only came when the “former political has-been” took over after he won the May election. And yet he did not investigate it and file the necessary charges. Even if Mike is now a civilian he cannot escape criminal liability if he indeed committed graft.

Under the present setup wherein City Hall engaged the services of Jomara Konstruct Company to haul garbage from the “temporary transfer station” at the South Road Properties (SRP) to Consolacion, the City pays the service provider P1,375 per ton. With this rate, our garbage collection is costly. Consider that the City appropriated some P9.2 million for Jomara's fourday service. That's around P2 million daily.

If my math is right, the present setup is expensive by an average of P700 per ton. This is because the city is now paying P1,375 for both tipping and hauling for the north compared to only P700 per ton during Rama's time. And mind you, the north district had more collectable garbage compared with that of the south because its a commercial district. However, we have also to consider the manpower and equipment services costs during Rama's time because it was the DPS personnel that did the work using City Hall equipment.

And why is the garbage still dumped in Consolacion? Well, the City has nothing to do with it. It is already between Jomara and the landfill owner. Jomara attempted to dump the garbage in Compostela but their haulers were apprehended because there was no agreement yet with the local government unit.

But you know how Jomara would make money out of the transaction if the contract continues. The firm, which is owned by Engr. Joshua Lapitan, taps other private haulers and pays them P509 per ton for hauling only. It collects P1,375 per ton from the city government and give its sub-contractors P509 per ton. Mao ni gi-ingon nga kuwarta sa basura. Duna kahay naka- commission aning kontrataha? Just asking.