COA ruling bars set up of Mandaue materials facilities

ONLY  seven of 27 barangays in Mandaue City still don’t have a materials recovery facility (MRF) in their areas, city officials said over the weekend.

Engr. Ricardo Mendoza, officer-in-charge of the Barangay Solid Waste program, said these barangays failed to put their own MRFs due to a Commission on Audit (COA) ruling.

The COA prohibited the spending of public funds for the purchase of private lots.

Mendoza said barangay captains found it difficult to set up their own MRFs since there are no more government lots situated in their respective barangays.

The seven barangays who failed to put up their own MRFs are barangays Looc, Centro, Basak,Umapad, Tipolo, Subangdaku and Cabangcalan.

Mendoza said Subangdaku used to have their own MRF located in a vacant lot owned by the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC).

However, it stopped operations after the COA no longer allowed the barangay to use it.

However, Subangdaku barangay captain Ernie Manatad said he will ask city officials to intercede for them and ask COA to allow use of their vacant lot for their own MRF.

It was also learned that Tawason barangay captain Jesus Arcilla Jr. already identified a place where they can set up their own MRF.

Mendoza said they will inspect these seven barangays and pressure them to set up their own MRFs.

The Mandaue City government recently closed down their Umapad landfill months ahead of Cebu City.

Like Cebu City, it also pushed for waste segregation and recycling in order to reduce the city’s garbage volume.

City officials also assured garbage scavengers that their livelihood won’t be cut off but said they should adapt to their policy on waste segregation.

It also set up its own teams to conduct segregation and recycling. Mendoza said R.A 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act penalizes barangays that failed to set up their own MRFs. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza