BEHIND THE SCENES

Stinky garbage, parking in Baguio
ALFRED P. DIZON

BAGUIO CITY -- I was standing in front of the De Guia Building along Session Road around 8 p.m. on Thursday when a garbage truck with bells a ringing slowly passed by. It seemed the driver and three crewmen were blind. They passed by seemingly not noticing the piles of garbage dumped from the former Session Theatre up near the post office.

Farther up the road, they again rang their bells but didn’t pick the garbage strewn along the sidewalk. They might have been tired, drunk or plain lazy. Or they may have purposely done it in defiance of constituents for making them pick up their stinky trash. I am no mind reader so whatever the garbage pickers were thinking, I’ll leave that to city pundits who have healthier imaginations.
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The problem is trash. Piles of it. And these are strewn everywhere along sidewalks and roads. Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. may have thought city residents would be disciplined in segregating their trash to attain zero trash collection.

But as things are turning out, his intention is seemingly not attainable this time as city residents are not cooperating. Even if some residents segregated their trash from “nabubulok” to “di nabubulok,” there is still need for garbage trucks to ferry these out.

Residents have been urged to bury or burn their garbage in their yards. But not all people have backyards. So what happened? Every time I pass by city streets at night, I see piles of garbage on sidewalks. Stray dogs scatter these along the road and many vehicles have been victims of flat tires due to dangerous garbage mines in the form of broken glass or opened tin cans.
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The city council may have noticed this as it approved on first reading the proposed resolution of Councilor Isabelo Cosalan Jr. urging the mayor to suspend implementation of the ‘no segregation-no collection of garbage’ policy from Dec. 19 to Jan. 2.

“It is the clamor of the public to prioritize the cleanliness of the city especially during this yuletide season when the influx of tourists and visitors increases and the volume of garbage doubles,” Cosalan explained in his resolution.

He said temporarily suspending the policy would avoid unsightly heaps of garbage particularly within the central business district and tourism sites since all the trash would be regularly collected.

Cosalan added it is also the city’s responsibility to protect the public from health hazards that may arise due to uncollected garbage during this peak season. On final approval, the city environment and parks management office would be tasked to regularly collect all kinds of garbage during the suspension of the policy.
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This maybe a temporary measure and the proposal of Vice Mayor Daniel Fariñas to create a committee to study the possibility of privatizing the garbage collection in Baguio may have to be studied too.

Sure, any Tom, Dick and Harry could magically become the recipient of a bidding contract and become rich overnight collecting garbage but is this the solution? Can’t the city government on its own collect the garbage like it had been doing all these years? What about the garbage collectors? Even if some are lazy, where would they get the money to feed their families if they suddenly find themselves unemployed?
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City folk have observed that despite efforts of the local government with non-government and private organizations, the city is far from realizing the “zero-waste” vision due to several constraints.

Now Farinas is saying privatized garbage collection would also allow the city to prepare for the full implementation of its 10-year solid waste management plan and the purchase of additional garbage trucks and material recovery facilities.
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There is something wrong when the government can’t collect and dispose garbage by itself and has to rely on private contractors to do it. If people have become jaded on garbage collection, it is because they think government has to do its part since they are paying their taxes.

An unsolicited piece of advice: The city government could hold a public hearing on the matter so that concerned sectors would be heard on what they have to say. If people think the government is making them actively participate in decision-making on affairs of the city, they would cooperate.
It is no pun, but from “cleanest and greenest city nationwide,” Baguio is emerging as “garbage capital of the north,” according to pundits. It is high time, local officials wake up from their stupor, hold the public hearing as soon as possible and initiate changes basing from consensus and objective assessment of the matter.
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Mayor Bautista has relaxed parking prohibition along Session Road by allowing parking along the main thoroughfare during weekends and special holidays. A city hall press dispatch said the mayor last week issued Administrative Order 247 amending Administrative Order 62 and 212 which imposed a parking ban along the whole stretch from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, it is observed that there is minimal traffic congestion along Session Road even during rush hours. Due to influx of tourists during weekends and holidays, there is need to allow motor vehicles to park along Session Road on a first-come-first-served basis,” the mayor said.
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The parking prohibition will be in effect on Mondays to Fridays except when a particular day falls on a regular and special holiday. No beef with that, but the city government could also study if it would allow parking from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily by rerouting traffic as even if vehicles are parked beside sidewalks within said time frames, traffic is still manageable.

What maybe designated could be parking areas for a few minutes for occupants to buy something or fetch somebody. One time, a traffic cop with a bulging belly riding a motorcycle accosted me once when I parked in front of the De Guia building around 6 p.m.
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I turned on the hazard lights. I told him I needed to get some papers I left at an establishment in the building and I had to do it as soon as possible as the bus of the one who would bring these to Manila was about to start in 30 minutes. The cop would have none of it and since he said I had to move the vehicle, I wasn’t able to give the papers to my courier. It was ironic since on the other side of the road, there were parked vehicles.

The cop told me the mayor’s administrative order stipulated that at no time can a vehicle park even for a short while along the road. Is this fair? I don’t know if there was indeed a provision in the administrative order for this. I didn’t know at that time, so I left otherwise, I would have defied him. If the superiors of this cop would care, I could identify him.

Meanwhile, the press dispatch said the mayor plans to allow parking within Burnham Park from Dec. 16 to Jan. 6 next year to provide ample parking space for tourists expected to flock to the city for the holidays. The parking will however be regulated. Parking areas would be Lake Drive, old auditorium site, Ganza and Solibao parking spaces.