THE garbage truck for barangay Busay was idle for five days until it received its gasoline supply for the month of November last Thursday.
Busay barangay captain Eluedoro Sanchez said a 200 liter diesel allocation will not last the month, hampering the collection of garbage in the barangay.
Sanchez told Cebu Daily News that in several instances during the last two months, he would shell out cash to buy additional diesel to operate the garbage truck.
“Kami nay mo bayad tawn. Luoy na kaayo mi,” he said.
(We have shelled out our own money for fuel. We are in a pitiful situation.)
Sanchez said City Hall has reduced the diesel allocation for the lone garbage truck from 300 liters per month to 200 liters since Mayor Michael Rama ordered a fuel cut for all city and barangay vehicles in response to the city’s reduced fuel supply.
He said the 200 litter allocation would only last two weeks.
Their garbage truck dumps waste collected in the barangay to the private dump site contracted by Cebu City in Consolacion town.
Sanchez said there were instances when the would only dump garbage in Consolacion onece every three days to save on fuel.
The barangay bus and patrol vehicle has also limited its movement to save on fuel.
“Ug wala nay diesel ang mo gamit sa sakyanan na ang among papaliton,” he said.
(If there is no fuel, the one who will use it will have to fill the gas tank.)
The barangay bus which is getting 250 litter of fuel per month from City Hall is only deployed for use in burials and childrens field trips.
Sanchez said use of Busay’s patrol car is limited to emergency situations instead of roving around the barangay to deter crimes.
He said he sends tanods on the barangay motorcycle instead for night patrols.
“God will solve the problem,” said Mayor Michael Rama when asked if he has found a solution to the city’s diesel and gasoline purchase still pending approval with the P267-million Supplemental Budget 2.
The supplemental budget includes a P30-million additional budget for fuel.
City Hall’s fuel requirement is about 80 percent diesel and 20 percent gasoline.
Rama said he was confident that the Cebuanos will “stand up” against the City Council now that government services have been prejudiced by dealys in the passage of the second supplemental budget.
Last Wednesday, the City Council dominated by the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) again passed over the supplemental budget allocation.
The majority bloc asked the office of the mayor to provide certifications of availability of funds and other documents to support the supplemental budget.
Earlier this week the Government Service Office (GSO) said their fuel inventory was almost depleted and may only last until this weekend.
The budget for fuel this year has been reduced to almost a third from P288 million to P100 million.
Ardosa said the 2012 fuel budget was already spend by the first week of September.
They made emergency fuel purchases worth P13 million but this was also depleted.
Fuel price hikes and a new demand from City Hall’s new vehicles has compounded the matter, said Ardosa.