Quezon City garbage fee proposal nears passage

MANILA, Philippines—Residents of Quezon City may have to shell out between P100 and P500 a year for the collection and disposal of their garbage if a bill approved by the city council on second reading last Monday is finally enacted into an ordinance.

The measure imposes an annual garbage fee ranging from P100 to P500 on individual households while homeowners associations and owners of high-rise condominiums and apartments will have to pay more for their trash disposal depending on how many of their units are occupied.

A homeowner who refuses to abide by the measure will be charged, apart from the regular garbage fee, an additional 50 percent of the fee and a 20 percent monthly interest until the amount due is finally settled.

The garbage fee ordinance still has to be taken up by the council on third and final reading on a still undisclosed date. It will take effect only after it is signed into law by Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and published in a newspaper of general circulation.

Under the amended version of the measure approved by the committees on ways and means; on parks and environment; and on laws, rules and internal government, proceeds from the garbage fee will be deposited in a special account and used to finance the city’s various environmental and disaster risk reduction projects.

The measure, drafted by first district councilor Victor Ferrer Jr, who chairs the ways and means committee and is a certified public accountant, provides a schedule of payment of the garbage fee to be determined by the size of a homeowner’s lot.

Ferrer cited provisions of the Local Government Code in pushing for the enactment of his proposed ordinance, particularly those pertaining to the authority of the local council to fix reasonable fees and charges for services rendered by the city government as well as to provide for an efficient and effective system of solid waste and garbage collection.

He pointed out that Quezon City, being the largest city in terms of population and land area, would need a “big budgetary allocation” for efficient delivery of basic services such as solid waste management and said that the collection of garbage fees would “ help augment the funds to be spent for the city’s waste management system.”

According to the draft ordinance, an annual garbage fee will be collected from all domestic households in Quezon City, with P100 being paid by a resident occupying a land area of less than 200 square meters. P200 will be collected from a household with a land area of more than 200 square meters but less than 500 square meters; P300 for a land area of over 500 square meters but less than 1,000 square meters; P400 for a land area of over 1,000 square meters but less than 1,500 square meters; and P500 for a land area of over P1,500 square meters but less than 2,000 square meters.

For residents of high-rise buildings, the homeowners’ association will be required to pay the annual garbage fee based on the total lot size of the entire condominium building and an additional garbage fee based on the area occupied by each sold or amortized unit.

Owners of high-rise apartment units are to pay the annual garbage fee computed from the total lot size of the apartment and an additional garbage fee based on the area actually occupied by a tenant.

The bill says that that the fee “shall accrue on the first day of January and shall be paid simultaneous with the payment of the real property tax but not later than the first quarter installment.”

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