Adjustments
Whether or not it was intentional on their part, something beneficial may yet come out of decisions by the governments of Cebu and Mandaue cities restricting the travel of passenger jeepneys and garbage trucks in their areas.
For Cebu City, restricting the travel of Mandaue-bound passenger jeepneys means freeing more space for its own jeepneys to ply their routes and service more customers. For Mandaue City, blocking Cebu City garbage trucks bound for a Consolacion town landfill means sparing constituents from the stench of trash.
Officials from both localities denied that their decisions were acts of reprisal and said these were meant to protect the interests of their constituents. Any which way they cut it, their decisions would mean adjustments for the affected parties.
Jeepney drivers of Mandaue City would bear the brunt of this exchange since the restricted routes would cut their income and cost them a substantial number of passengers who frequent Cebu City malls and business districts.
Cebu City, at least in the immediate future, won’t suffer the effects of traveling the extra kilometer or so to deliver their garbage to Consolacion town.
Another garbage facility in Naga City, south Cebu, is being considered as an alternative landfill site.
Then again, owing to the court decision on the Rallos properties that would require the city to pay more than P100 million to the family and for SM Prime Holdings decision to pay taxes directly to the national government instead of Cebu City, it won’t take long before Cebu City Hall questions whether its garbage arrangement with Consolacion would cost more in the long run.
This is where adjustments come in. If Mayor Michael Rama is determined to make his garbage disposal program work, he would have to crack down on the barangays to install materials recovery facilities (MRFs) to sort out trash for recycling and reuse.
Councilor Nida Cabrera said the city’s arrangement with Consolacion town is temporary. We can only speculate what the city’s long term plans are. Will they build another landfill in barangay Kalunasan?
Or will they maximize the use of barangay-level waste stations and continue to use the Consolacion town landfill in the foreseeable future?
Either way, at least the Rama administration is doing something about implementing the long-delayed closure of the Inayawan landfill which outlived its usefulness years ago.
It’s about time they did too.
Now about the Mandaue passenger jeepneys, that’s something that should be worked on without acrimony between Mandaue and Cebu city officials.
