CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City’s Department of Public Services has collected almost 300 tons of garbage yesterday morning, after they got an order to clean the streets from garbage.
While heading towards City Hall, Mayor Edgardo Labella said he saw several mounds of garbage left uncollected along the Banilad-Talamban corridor.
With this, he called DPS Acting Head Engr. Joel Biton to a three-minute meeting to resolve the issue before it will inconvenience the public.
“When I had the meeting, I just let Engr. Biton to stay for three minutes and told him ‘go and find a way.’ Remove all those rubbish. We will be doing that in the next few days. We will remove the garbage, the litter all around the city. Terrible. That’s my marching order,” Labella told reporters.
Biton, in a separate interview, said there were mounds of garbage left along the streets of Barangays Mambaling, Mabolo, Talamban, Lahug, Guadalupe and the areas of Banawa and V. Rama.
He said the volume of garbage that is supposed to be collected in the morning has doubled yesterday.
“Karong buntag lang (Monday morning), almost 300 tons gyud among nakolekta kay daghan kaayong nabiyaan sa dalan kay nahuman na ang contract sa kontraktor pag Domingo,” he told The FREEMAN.
Biton said he already informed the heads of offices concerned on the possible emergency purchase of services for the collection and hauling of garbage.
To recall, the city government has contracted Geo Transport and Construction Inc. for the rental of heavy equipment that include 10 compactor trucks and 11 dump trucks that would be needed in the hauling of the city’s garbage.
The hauling contract is still up to July 10, he said, but the city government has to move now to ensure there will be no garbage crisis.
Aside from the garbage, Labella also directed the city’s Department of Engineering and Public Works to give him a copy of a big map that shows the rivers, creeks, and other waterways in the city.
“I instructed MICS and the city engineer to provide me with a big map that shows all the rivers and the creeks and point out where are those that are clogged up because of garbage,” he told reporters.
Labella said he will also make representation with the Philippine Army, Cebu Contractors Association, Department of Public Works and Highways-7, among others for the joint massive dredging and declogging of the waterways.
He said he will also call a meeting with barangay captains, allies or not, to assist the city in this initiative especially that rainy season has been declared by the weather bureau.
The long term plan includes the removal of encroachments or the structures that are built along the river banks or along the easement zones of the waterways, he added.
Labella said that he had a lot of things to prioritize on his first 100 days, but his first goal is to make the city clean, to have a massive clean-up of waterways and drainage system.
"It is not just a litter, but it also has a bad effect in the body," Labella said.
Labella added he will have a meeting with barangay captains to discuss the rehabilitation of the river and how the local government units (LGUs) can educate and prevent its residents from throwing garbage into rivers.
Labella said that they will enforce a strict collection and disposal policy, he encouraged everyone to follow the rules as it good for everyone. — Joan C. Carbajosa (FREEMAN)