Flood prevention: Council approves P24 million for declogger machines

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has approved the budget for the procurement of two declogger machines amounting to P24 million as part of efforts to mitigate the flooding in the city.

Councilor Jerry Guardo, the chairman of the Committee on Infrastructure and the proponent of the resolution to procure the declogging machines, said after the council's approval, the bidding will then follow.

The resolution was approved during the regular session last Wednesday, August 28, 2024.

The budget proposal was previously deferred for a week, and an executive session was instead scheduled in order to tackle its specifications. The executive session was set to discuss the charging of the amount of P24 million from the Capital Outlay-Construction and Heavy Equipment to cover the procurement of the declogger equipment.

The equipment will be used in clearing the drainage system to prevent flooding, which includes a brand new unit of 6x4 Jetting Vacuum Truck with 12,000 liters divided into two independent compartments. The other unit is also a brand new 4x2 Jetting Vacuum Truck with 6,000-liter capacity.

Guardo has previously explained that the declogging machines use high-powered jet pumps that have two compartments—one would store the sludge while another one will store clean water.

During the discussion, Councilor Nestor Archival Sr. raised concerns on the issues of contracts being made and transmitted for the approval of the council. According to him, the budget proposals have already been pre-determined even without a contractor yet.

Such a case was compared to the prepared budget of P24 million for the declogging machines. Guardo, however, said that this has been the practice wherein the source of funds must be identified first.

He added that despite benchmarking, the amount of P24 million can still go lower if there is a bidder that has machines with lower costs.

Despite discussions on the amount, the council approved the charging proposal.

Cooperation sought

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Team (CESET) continues to ask for the public’s cooperation in keeping the City clean even as they have noted of fewer garbage in so-called hotspots in the area.

“So far, nahinay-hinay gyud nato nga naa gyuy kausaban. Sa karon lang, sa among dakop, sige mi’g pinangitaay asa may nag-aso gani. Wala may nag-aso,” said CESET head Grace Luardo through the City’s PIO.

Even during the recent Pasigarbo sa Sugbo event attended by thousands of people and where 200 personnel were deployed to help clean up the festival route and venue, only a few were issued citation tickets unlike before.

Luardo noted that the Information and Education Campaign (IEC) which the CESET and Barangay Environment Officers (BEO) had been conducting in the barangays, especially in garbage hotspots, turned out to be effective.

In its IEC, CESET and BEOs inform the locals on proper segregation, disposal and collection schedules, among others.

CESET has also converted garbage hotspots into a pocket garden.

 “So, atong makita daghang hotspot gyud ron nga atoang gipanamnan, gi-beautify nato noh. Garbage hotspot turned into beautiful spots. Ubay-ubay gyud na ron nga atong gipaningkamotan with our BEOs, our Barangay Environmental Officers, naa sila didto standing by,” added Luardo.

But with this latest development, Luardo said that the garbage problem in the city will not be solved if it is only them that will do all the cleanups.

 “Dapat tabangan nato nga malimpyo ang atong siyudad. Pinaagi nato, bisan kita lang usa-usa nato magkat-on nga di magpataka og labay, nindot kaayo atong siyudad, limpyo,” said Luardo. Caecent No-ot Magsumbol/ATO (CEBU NEWS)