In Tuesday's regular session of the City Council, City Accountant Antonio Tabin, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Director Liza Fangsilat and City Auditor Fernando Somera clarified issues involving legality of payment to Metro Waste, the hauler contracted by the City Government to bring the city's waste to a landfill in Tarlac.
They say an amount may be allotted as payment for Metro Waste for the services it rendered from July 23 to August 1. The city's emergency situation then justifies the decision to hire the services of Metro Waste, Tabin explained.
This is also contained in the implementing rules and guidelines of the Local Government Code, Fangsilat added.
The City Council last week appropriated P10 million as payment for hauling but only for services rendered beginning August 1. This, as councilors questioned the alleged lack of transparency by the mayor when the requisite bidding process was sidelined.
According to them, this violates the law which requires projects and services procurement by the government to undergo a bid process.
With this development, the City Council can allocate an amount as payment for services prior to August 1. The amount would come from the supplement budget of the city.
This explanation of the Commission on Audit (COA) and the DBM, however, failed to convince Councilor Richard Cariño, especially with the recent request lodged by Baguio Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. for an additional P20 million from the original request of only P30 million for hauling of waste.
The consortium of local contractors, meanwhile, started hauling the city's wastes Thursday last week, until the city is able to develop a residual containment area either in Itogon or in Irisan.
