News briefs
CLEANUP CREW FOR SINULOG
ABOUT 600 street cleaners and garbage collectors will be fielded to clear Cebu City’s streets of garbage following the Sinulog Grand Parade this Sunday.
Dionisio Gualiza, head of Cebu City Hall’s Department of Public Services (DPS), said they also borrowed trucks from the City Engineering Office to help transport garbage to the landfill in Pulog, Consolacion town.
“We expect mostly plastic garbage during the Sinulog so it won’t be difficult to clean,” he said.
Randy Navarro, assistant DPS head, said the city generates 100 tons of garbage along the parade route and in areas where Sinulog activities are held.
This is on top of the daily garbage volume of 380 tons that the city accumulates.
“We need as many trucks that would bring garbage to Consolacion to hasten our cleanup operations,” he said. He said since Consolacion is quite far, it would take about two hours of travel. Its distance delays the collection of garbage from the streets.
Navarro said the city only has 14 garbage trucks, some of which malfunction. Gualiza said they would use 10 units of 10-wheeler trucks which the city leased after the Inayawan landfill closure to deliver the city’s garbage to Consolacion.
He said he wanted the cleanup completed by 5 a.m. on Monday. Gualiza said Cebu City’s transfer station in Inayawan still cannot be used because the river tends to overflow during the downpour and become muddy.
They are using a portion of the site as a pickup area for the garbage. The DPS earlier used a portion of block 27 in Cebu City’s reclamation area as a temporary garbage transfer station.
But displaced families living in the area and nearby establishments complained about the foul odor. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac
LTO DRUG TEST LAB IN MALL
A DOCTOR accused the Land Transportation Office (LTO) of being unfair in choosing a drug testing laboratory for its One Stop Shop to be set up in a new mall in Mandaue City.
Dr. Danilo Dionson questioned the endorsement that LTO made in favor of a drug testing firm to Asst. Secretary Virginia P. Torres.
Dionson also questioned the plan to put up a One Stop Shop in a mall. He sent a letter to Torres, claiming that the move is “highly suspicious and anomalous” because it was meant to drive away small-time drug-testing centers.
Dionson wanted to get a copy of the memorandum of agreement between LTO and the mall but a letter from the LTO Central Office stated that they do not have a copy of the memorandum. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza
SEASHELLS SEIZED IN LAPU
THE Task Force Kalikasan of Lapu-Lapu City Police Office confiscated seashells transported without pertinent papers in barangay Suba-Basbas, Lapu-Lapu City, Tuesday morning.
The shells, locally known as sisi, are not among the endangered species, said task force head PO3 Jomar Ybañez. Nevertheless, he said the shells must be covered by the necessary clearances.
The shells were in 12 big baskets on board a van owned by Rodolfo Pepito of Cabancalan, Mandaue City. These were from Sorsogon in Bicol Region and estimated to be worth P20,000.
Pepito said they won’t be filing a case against Pepito but the shells will be confiscated and turned over to the City Environment and Natural Resources. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza
