THE Cebu City Government is asking the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 to help Jomara Konstruckt Corp. (JKC) look for a legal sanitary landfill.
This came after the DENR ordered the owner of a private sanitary landfill in Aloguinsan town to stop accepting garbage being transported to his facility.
The facility, which has a contract with JKC, the City’s service provider, has been operating without an environmental compliance certificate.
The City, however, is not liable as its contract with JKC provides that the landfill where the provider will dump its trash should be authorized by the DENR.
Though the City is not a party to the contract between the landfill and JKC, executive assistant to the mayor Francisco Fernandez asked the DENR to help JKC look for an accredited facility.
“I hope the DENR will help. The City would also like to help JKC in any way we can,” he said yesterday.
He explained that should the Commission on Audit find a violation of the contract, the City Government will not be compelled to pay the service provider.
“Of course, we will be happy, but that happiness is only short-lived. If we won’t pay them, they won’t collect our trash. What will happen then? We are trying to rehabilitate the Inayawan Landfill because that’s really the cheapest,” he said.
The City is paying JKC P1,375 per ton of garbage collected in all 80 barangays.
This includes tipping fee, use of equipment, payment for the transfer station and the driver and loaders.
Fernandez lamented that the DENR should not only regulate, but should also teach the City what to do to prevent further violations.
Sought for comment, Councilor Joel Garganera, chairman of the City Council’s committee on environment, said that his main concern is that the City stops operating its landfill and using the South Road Properties (SRP) as a transfer station.