To rent or not to rent

Though a debate involves two or more opposing ideas, these opposing stands usually are anchored to a common principle.

The common stem, for example, in the ongoing debate about Cebu City's system of garbage collection is the principle of cost-effectiveness in spending taxpayers' money. I would like to believe that the line of argument is really drawn out of a common goal to spend good public money for better services.

But we cannot discount the possibility that politics is the driving force behind the current debate on garbage collection – which is still good, if only to motivate public officials to do a better job as fiscalizers or administrators.

In this sense we appreciate Barug Team Rama councilors Joel Garganera and Eduardo Rama Jr. for pointing out that the P700 per hour rent that City Hall is paying to the garbage truck service contractor is too high.

In The FREEMAN's report yesterday, Councilor Rama was quoted as saying that based on the presumed market value of the trucks (which he based on the website OLX), the city will end up spending more renting the trucks than buying the same trucks.

The rental setup, Rama implied, unduly favors the truck service supplier at the cost of taxpayers' funds. "P504,000 a month libre pa ang gasoline, loader pa, dawat limpyo. In less than two months bawi ang investment sa supplier," Councilor Rama was quoted as saying in the report.

Rama also raised the matter of monitoring the running hours of the trucks. He doubts if there are City Hall employees diligently monitoring the daily operations of these trucks.

Councilor Garganera, meanwhile, pointed out that in the previous administration of former mayor Michael Rama, the budget for garbage collection was only P125 million. "This year (it's) P300 million excluding the rental. And they are accusing the previous admin of corruption kay grabe ang gasto, but look karon times four or times five," Garganera said.

These issues raised by opposition councilors, however, are issues that Mayor Tomas Osmeña has already tried to answer both in his press conferences and in his social media page. Osmeña, as early as July this year, has repeatedly assured Cebuanos that the city can save more money by renting the service of garbage trucks rather than buying garbage trucks, citing the high cost of maintenance.

In a press conference this week, Osmeña questioned the competence of opposition councilors in questioning his administration's handling of the garbage problem. Indeed we grant that competence is par for the course of this debate considering that the councilors are firing out figures left and right and are doing their own math, in which case either they can be asked to establish their expertise on the matter or reference their claims from credible sources (OLX?).

Under the circumstances, the public has yet to grasp the deep end of the garbage collection issue. Thus, we're hoping that both sides will proceed with this issue in the sincerest way of honoring their constituents with a higher level of public exchange.

That could be happening as this unfolds, while on the other hand some are skeptical if such is the case, if it will ever lead us somewhere good. That is considering the heated political climate which raises doubts as to the capability of either side to conduct this debate in a manner faithful to the shared principle of wise public spending.

In that case, that's where the mass media can do its role as a watchdog of public affairs by going beyond the "he said, she said" of this issue and getting the facts and analyzing the figures with the help of experts and other credible sources. Yes, even if the truth later sides with Osmeña or the councilors.

In the words of the Supreme Court in Valmonte versus Belmonte (1989): "Yet, this open dialogue can be effective only to the extent that the citizenry is informed and thus able to formulate its will intelligently. Only when the participants in the discussion are aware of the issues and have access to information relating thereto can such bear fruit."

That is especially true when the question remains: To rent or not to rent?