■ OSMEÑA TO PUSH THROUGH WITH PLAN TO LEASE TRUCKS FOR GARBAGE COLLECTION

The Cebu City Government will lease trucks that will be used to collect garbage. Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the setup is advantageous to the City, as the maintenance of the trucks will be shouldered by the service provider. The City, he said, will provide gasoline allocation. Under the first supplemental budget of the executive department, the Department of Public Services proposed a P56- million budget to rent the trucks and heavy equipment. Osmeña said he doesn’t want to commit the same mistake made by the previous administration when it purchased 133 trucks, of which only 69 are serviceable, 37 are unserviceable, 19 under repair, four are for disposal and four have been disposed of.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña will pursue the leasing of trucks, which will be used to improve garbage collection in the city.

In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said the setup is advantageous to the City because maintenance of the rented trucks will be shouldered by the service provider, who will also also supply the drivers while the City will only give gasoline allocation.

Asked why the City has to provide for the gasoline, Osmeña said it is because their consumption can be monitored.

Under the first supplemental budget of the executive department, the Department of Public Services (DPS) proposed P56 million for the rental of trucks and heavy equipment.

Earlier, DPS assistant department head John Paul Gelasque said the City will rent 15 trucks, which will cost the City P850 per hour, or P20,400 for 24 hours.

However, Councilor Eduardo Rama Jr. said that instead of leasing, the City should buy its own trucks for cost efficiency.

Rama said buying 15 trucks will only cost the City P40 million, which is less than the rental fee.

Osmeña said he doesn’t want to commit the same mistake that the previous administration committed.

“Rama said we buy trucks instead of leasing. Are we gonna commit his mistakes? He said it went through proper bidding. There was a proper bidding except there was only one bidder and those trucks are made in China,” Osmeña told reporters.