Supplemental budget discussion moved again: ‘Garbage woes not caused by delay in budget passage’

CEBU, Philippines - With delay in the passage of Supplemental Budget-1 being blamed by the executive department for the garbage problem in Cebu City, a city councilor yesterday said the problem is not on funds but on the “alarming and questionable increase” in the volume of garbage.

In a privilege speech yesterday, City Councilor Nida Cabrera said the city has recorded a rise in the amount of garbage this year compared to that in previous years.

Cabrera, City Council’s committee on environment head, said that while there were 67,000 tons of garbage in 2014, that for January to October this year already reached 122,000 tons, or 82 percent more, and there is still two months to go.

Cabrera said the budget allocation for 2014 and 2015 also showed a huge difference because of the increase in garbage in the city.

Last year, she said, the city only set aside P60 million for garbage collection and it was not even used up. The budget for 2015, on the other hand, almost double with P101 million, and garbage collection continues to be a problem.

In a separate privilege speech, City Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos asked the executive department to explain what happened to the P50 million additional budget approved by the City Council to supplement the depleted P51 million budget for this year.

De los Santos questioned the executive department’s inclusion of P87 million for garbage tipping fee under the P2.8-billion SB-1this year when the City Council already approved P101 million.

Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan-allied city councilor, who composed the majority in the City Council, deferred deliberation of the SB-1 since there is a pending complaint filed by one Romulo Torres asking the court to stop the city from using the P8.3 billion the city earned in the sale of 45.2 hectares of the South Road Properties.

“Without SB-1, the garbage problem will continue and (for the executive department) members of the majority are to blame. That is their script. It sounds like the perfect political drama for the executive,” de los Santos said.

Last year, the executive department asked for P120 million under the 2015 annual budget to pay for garbage disposal, but the City Council only approved P51 million.

But de los Santos said the City council approved another P50 million as additional funds since the P51 million was depleted already.

She questioned the inclusion of P87 million for garbage tipping fees under the stalled SB-1 when the additional P50 million is yet to be released.

In response, City Councilor Gerardo Carillo questioned de los Santos’ privilege speech considering that the majority bloc has suspended the deliberation of SB-1.

“That is the reason why we want to discuss the SB-1 since there are members of the City Council who expressed that there are questionable items under the SB-1,” he said.

Carillo said he could not fathom why de los Santos delivered a privilege speech questioning items under SB-1 when she was one of the city councilors who signed the budget ordinance containing the P87 million garbage tipping fee.

In a 9-6 vote in yesterday’s regular session of the City Council, BOPK city councilors rejected a proposed resolution by Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella asking that the body lift the suspension of the deliberation of SB-1.

Labella reiterated that that role of the City Council is to approve, reject, or slash the SB-1 and not to defer it. — (FREEMAN)