Baguio dads settle trash tiff with P183M funding

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – Local officials crossed party lines and got their acts together by approving P183 million to purchase appropriate technology and for use of other projects that will solve the city’s garbage problem.

Bulk of the said amount, which was pegged at P128 million, will be utilized for the purchase of technology that will substantially solve the city’s garbage problem.

Some P25 million will be used for importation of five new garbage trucks for garbage collection,
Another P29 million was earlier allocated for the repair of the retaining wall of the city’s open dumpsite in Barangay Irisan here.

However, the city council made as a condition the non-release of payment to the winning bidder which will supply the appropriate echnology for the city’s solid waste system prior to the confirmation of the memorandum of agreement.

To ensure transparency in selection of appropriate technology to solve the city’s garbage problem, Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said everyone who has the technical knowledge on the said matter will be invited to join the deliberations of the city solid waste management board so that the local government will be able to select the best technology that will help solve the city’s garbage woes that had been going on over the past two and a half years.

With the realignment and appropriation of the aforesaid funds for the city’s solid waste program, the city solid waste management board can now deliberate on the numerous proposals submitted by various proponents so that the best technology that could solve the city’s garbage problem will be chosen the soonest.

On the other hand, the garbage trucks that will be purchased will be appropriately designed whereby the dump of the trucks will be divided into two compartments which could handle biodegradable and non=biodegradable wastes so that most of the city’s solid waste will be immediately hauled.

Part of the conditionalities for the supplier of the trucks will be the three-year supply of spare parts of the garbage trucks and that the same must be shipped to the city without any additional cost to the local government.

Earlier, Domogan appealed to councilors there was urgent need to appropriate the funds so the local government could find sustainable solutions to the garbage problem since the people are closely watching the current set of local officials if they will be able to come out with concrete solutions that will stop the expensive hauling of garbage to Capas, Tarlac that has eaten up most of the city’s funds.

While there were misunderstandings between some local
officials and certain department heads on the technology that will be adopted by the city government, the sense of public service prevailed over other interests in approving the appropriation of the said amount of funds so that the lined up solutions to the garbage problem will be implemented and not told from time to time.

For the past two and a half years old, the city government spent over P320 million in the hauling of garbage to Tarlac which was an offshoot of the closure of the city’s open dumpsite after the same was barricaded by irate residents.