DPS SEEKS MORE FUNDS FOR GARBAGE DISPOSAL

DPS reported that garbage collected for the past five months of this year is higher by 35 percent compared to previous years With the closure of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill, DPS said that the approved P121 million is no enough to cover the expenses

Cebu City's Department of Public Services (DPS) is asking more than P200 million for under the first supplemental budget (SB 1), saying that the garbage in the city is increasing.

During the budget hearing yesterday, DPS chief Roberto Cabarrubias explained that for the last five months of this year, a total of 88,476.32 tons of garbage have been collected.

It is about 35 percent higher compared to the collections in previous years covering the same period, Cabarrubias said.

It is higher compared to the 69,000 average of the tons of garbage collected in 2016 and 2015.

The executive department has submitted a proposed SB 1 of P716.5 million for this year, where the biggest cut would go to garbage disposal.

According to the budget pro- posal, DPS wants some P214.3 million additional budget for this year.

Of the amount, P151.2 million will cover for the additional fund for garbage hauling until the end of the year, while another P56.3 million was also set aside for rental of heavy equipment.

Under the 2017 annual budget, DPS has a budget of P121 million. Of this, P112 million were spent for garbage hauling fee while the remaining was used for wages of some of its job-order workers.

But even with the allocation, the department's budget was still depleted prompting them to realign the budget of rental for heavy equipment to garbage collection worth P40 million for June until the first few days of July.

DPS is also planning use the P28.9 million under Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. funds for the hauling operation of the city's trash this month while waiting for the approval of SB 1.

Asked why the DPS did not propose a bigger amount in the annual budget for 2017 for garbage disposal, assistant department head John Paul Gelasque said that they only pushed for P20 million as they did not anticipate the closure of Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

"The landfill was closed Dec. 16 last year and we did not have enough time to amend our budget proposal anymore," Gelasque said.

After the closure of the landfill, the City has to source out the garbage disposal, which cost them P1,375 per ton for the first month and P1,350 at present.

Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr. suggested that instead of letting garbage trucks of the barangays in the north to go the transfer station, they should dump directly to the private landfill in Consolacion, which is closer to them. By doing it, Rama believes that City can save.

However, Cabarrubias said Rama's proposal is not easy, considering that most of the garbage trucks of the barangays can't sustain the travel to the private landfill due to its terrain.

"It's not easy to go there due to the danger it poses to our drivers and loaders," he said.

Meanwhile, Gelasque also explained that P56.3 million proposed allocation for the rental of heavy equipment will be used to rent 10 compactor trucks and five open dump trucks.

These heavy vehicles will still be used for garbage collection, which is estimated to cost the City P850 per hour rent and will be used for 24 hours. The P850 rent will include the truck itself and maintenance, among others.

The gasoline will be shouldered by the City.

However, Councilor Jose Daluz III said DPS should have a concrete program about it.

The ad hoc committee on budget and finance will continue the budget hearing today to discuss other items in the SB 1.