ON HIS first day as mayor of Cebu City, Edgardo Labella tasked the Department of Public Service (DPS) to solve the city’s garbage problem.
The very next day, the DPS announced a change in schedule for the collection from households and establishments.
To make sure the streets are clean during the day, garbage will be picked up between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. “Our target is that once people will wake up in the morning, no more garbage will be seen in our streets,” said DPS head engineer Joel Biton.
Implementation of the new schedule started on Wednesday, July 3, 2019.
So the first thing I’m going to do on Thursday, July 4, is to check if there has been any change. I won’t nitpick. I don’t expect the problem to go away overnight, but it will be nice to see an improvement. No matter how slight.
I think they should check the situation on Osmeña Blvd. first.
It is supposed to be Cebu City’s answer to Avenida 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires or the Champs Elysees in Paris. Okay, that might not be a fair comparison, but you know what I mean?
Majestic trees on broad sidewalks line either side of the thoroughfare from the Capitol down to P. del Rosario, providing shade to the few locals who prefer to walk rather than take a public utility vehicle even though their destination may only be 200 meters away.
When I was much younger, I always imagined the boulevard to be filled with sidewalk cafes where locals would gather, sip their coffees, exchange the latest gossip, take drags from their cigarettes only to realize that I was in the wrong country.
But I think pre-war planners might have had something similar in mind when they wanted to connect the old Spanish town to outlying areas the American government was opening up in the city. Or maybe not.
One thing is for sure, they didn’t create the city’s only--and I mean only--broad sidewalks so these could become parking lots.
I know I digress. But these vehicles are eyesores and are somewhat like trash since they don’t belong there.
By the way, Chapter IV, Article V, Section 52 of Republic Act 4136, or the Land Transportation and Traffic Code, says “no person shall drive or park a motor vehicle upon or along any sidewalk, path or alley not intended for vehicular traffic or parking.” And yet, violators abound.
On my daily walk to the office at SunStar Cebu on P. del Rosario, I have to dodge motorcycles or weave in and out of vehicles that block my path, particularly that stretch from the corner of Uytensu Road to R.R. Landon, and often find myself on the road itself, just to get through.
So yeah, the City should also address this particular garbage.