Cebu City Council wants garbage hauling contract rescinded

THE Cebu City Council yesterday called for a stop to the hauling of garbage at P4,000 per truck by a private firm that takes the city’s wastes to a landfill in Consolacion town.

The council said the contract with Armed Builders and Supply should be rescinded.

They also also asked the Ombudsman-Visayas to investigate what they said was a “disadvantageous” contract betweeen Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and the hauling company.

Councilor Nida Cabrera sponsored the resolution calling for the rescission of the contract.

The council also passed Councilor Alvin Dizon’s corollary motion calling on the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman to investigate a possible violation of anti-graft guidelines.

Upon learning of the City Council measures, Mayor Rama asked: “If we have it rescinded what is the option? Are we going back to using the Inayawan landfill?”

He called the City Council “irresponsible” and asked, “Now, where will we throw our garbage? In their house?”

Rama’s allies in the City Council, Edgar Labella, Jose Daluz III and Edu Rama Jr. were absent during yesterday’s deliberation.

Labella was there at the start of the session but left a few minutes later.

Engr. Randy Navarro, head of the Inayawan landfill operations, told the council in an executive session last Sept 12 that the 15-hectare landfill now has about 2 million cubic meters of garbage.

Navarro said the city government collects 325 tons of garbage daily, of which 40 percent is hauled to a private Consolacion landfill while the remaining 60 percent is “stored” in the old Inayawan landfill.

The contractor, he added, is not capable of transporting the city’s daily garbage because their vehicles often bog down.

The city government has a P24 million budget for the one-year lease of 17 vehicles.

The fleet has 15 garbage trucks, one backhoe and one pay loader.

So far the city spent P10 million for its lease at a rate of P3, 998.37 per truck per day for each of the leased vehicles.

Each of the 15 garbage trucks are required to transport seven tons of garbage per trip and make three trips daily.

Cebu City’s landfill is located at least 13 kilometers from the Consolacion landfill.

Mayor Rama said he was open to amending the terms of the city’s contract with Armed Builders to make payment of the leased vehicles done on a per-trip basis.

But rescinding the contract and having this subject to an Ombudsman investigation is a different matter, the mayor added.

Rama said he will be asking the Solid Waste Management Board and the city legal office to review the council’s resolution.