The confrontation
occurred on the first day activity of the “2nd Solid Waste Management
Summit” participated by 18 barangays held at the Sport’s Center.
According to some
barangay officials, the garbage truck has no “distinct sound” such as
they could not attend to it in times of collection. Others said that
it failed to collect regularly, and unmindful to observe proper
sanitation and solid waste segregation.
That moment, Solid
Waste Management Head Reynaldo Gonzaga directly confronted Greg
Jusayan, the city’s contractor for garbage collection and told him his
defiance to comply with various conditions in the agreement despite
the warnings made by the office. He stressed the contractor’s clear
violations in the agreements which are valid grounds for breach of
contract.
Another issue surfaced
questioning the privatization of garbage collection overlooking its
consequence. “Kay nano nga ginkontrata an collection san basura nga
mas maupay man an sadto nga ciudad an nakuha?, Brgy. Captain Ener
Bracamonte said.
Engr. Gonzaga withheld
any information that could possibly stain the corporate approach and
intention of the previous administration in privatizing the garbage
collection of the city. But in an interview with Samarnews, he
revealed that his office was not made part in the drafting of the
terms and conditions of the contract until it was perfected by both
parties. Being mandated by law for solid waste management advocacy and
other technical expertise, its office was not furnished any copy of
the contract signed between the city government and the contractor for
garbage collection. He added that he attempted tackling the issue
before the local chief executive but it resulted an adverse effect.
Such as when the
contract was implemented in 2006, there was no coordination from the
contractor to his office in terms of garbage collectors’ training and
orientation; or requesting for a certification whether or not the
contractor’s implementation of the program was in conformity with the
office and with the agreement between the city government. As far as
he knew, the conditions required the contractor to provide 6 units of
garbage trucks to accommodate its collection to 22 barangays but only
3 are being used. These trucks are just being parked anywhere within
the city area because no motor pool was built for it. His more or
less 10 garbage collectors have no sanitation gear or garments to
protect themselves from all forms of bacteria; and he also have
skeletal manpower to clean the city streets.
The summit, which had
been bombarded with diverse reactions and complaints in terms of
garbage collections, somehow brought an advantage to Gonzaga in
bringing the issue to the local chief executive.
On the other hand,
Jusayan tried to explain that his units were sometimes undergoing
mechanical problems which made it unavailable for collection.
To appease him from
answering the complaints, Gonzaga advised all to be responsible in
their respective areas by implementing Republic Act 9003 or Ecological
Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 that mandates the barangay level to
segregate and collect solid waste specifically biodegradable,
compostable and reusable wastes; and can even adopt this law through a
barangay ordinance in consonance with the Integrated Solid Waste
Management Ordinance of the city.
The barangay shall
also be responsible for ensuring that 100% collection efficiency from
residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural sources, where
necessary within its area of coverage, is achieved.
He added that the law
further states that every barangay shall establish a Material Recovery
Facility (MRF) either barangay-owned or leased land or any suitable
open space to be determined by the barangay concerned through its
Sanggunian; and the barangay or cluster barangays shall allocate a
certain parcel of land for the MRF which shall receive mixed wastes
for final sorting, segregating, composting, and recycling. The
resulting residual wastes shall be transferred to a long term storage
or disposal facility or sanitary landfill. In case of Calbayog City,
its 4.9 hectares Sanitary Landfill is located at Brgy. Dinagan.
Punong Barangay
Cristina Maghacot of East Awang also reminded her fellow officials to
exercise discipline in their respective constituency because solid
waste management problem is everybody’s concern and not by the private
service-provider alone.
Though there was no
clear solution on how or when to resolve the issues, participants have
made themselves cooperative in the workshop proper for the preparation
of their action plan in the effective implementation of RA 9003 in
their respective barangays.
