THE newly appointed officer-in-charge (OIC) of the city environment division called for the reorganization of the office to resolve the many of its “persistent” problems.
DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte said on Monday that Avacena Agustin, who was appointed last week as OIC of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), submitted a detailed assessment of the office to the mayor including possible short-term solutions to each problem.
The mayor, however, declined to reveal other problems pointed out by Agustin in her assessment.
"Basta taas kaayo, ug daghan kaayo (It was a long list and it was a lot of problems). It was an extensive report regarding Cenro, from administration to tao ug equipment. (its personnel and equipment)," Duterte said in an interview at Central 911 office on Ponciano St. where she arranged to meet with the association of the recently demolished area in Barangay Sasa.
"Sa iyang short term solutions is iyahang gibutan ug rescheduling ang mga tao, pangitan ug report ang mga tao, tagaan tanan assignment, gi-organize ang office, dili ko kabalo (kung unsa gyud ang office before) pero mao to iyahang gibutang nga actions (Among her short term solutions, she created a re-scheduling of the personnel, she sought reports from people, gave everyone an assignment, and organized the office though I do not know how the office was before but this is what she places as actions)," Duterte said.
"She also ordered buying equipment particularly protective and safety gears for the garbage collectors," Duterte said.
Duterte last week expressed dismay over the performance of the Cenro on garbage collection, affirming the queries received on the collection of high piles of garbage, saying this prompted her to appoint Agustin as Cenro's OIC temporarily.
Current Cenro officer in charge Engineer Jocelyn Espina will return as assistant Cenro officer as this is her plantilla position.
Meanwhile, city department head and head of offices were mandated to follow the implementation of Solid Waste Management in their areas.
Through a memorandum signed July 29 by Acting City Administrator Zuleika Lopez, the head of city offices were told to follow strict compliance of the Ordinance 0361-10 or the City Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance.
This stemmed from an earlier letter received July 21 from Espina in the premise of adopting the “Ecological Solid Waste Management System in all Offices.”
Lopez directed office head to encourage their personnel to adopt the Ecological Solid Waste Management System in their respective department and/or offices and to observe the procedures to wit:
* the segregation of waste at source using sacks/sorters/boxes/etc;
* The maximization and proper utilization of government resources through the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle;
* The proper packaging of residual wastes inside mobile garbage bins and brought to collection point located along Magallanes Street;
Espina said Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 provides these under Section 21 dubbed 'Mandatory segregation of solid waste at source' and Section 22 or 'Requirements for the segregation and storage of solid waste.'
Duterte recognize waste management is of high concern, saying she's open to having its operations managed by a private sector.
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte have also expressed the same sentiments saying having the management of solid waste semi-privatized would be more efficient.
"Ang pag-manage sa basura musugot mo sa dili naa gyud nay proseso (Whether you like it or not managing garbage has a process) It takes days to get a piece, a part of a truck that's not functioning. It has to go through a lot of legal process, the government is like that. If we givethat to the private sector mas madali na (it would be easier). They would have to manage it because they can earn when garbage is collected," the Vice Mayor said last week during Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa.
"Ang importante lang gyud kay maka-earn ang city at the same time sile pud (The important thing is through an arranegment like this the city would earn as well as them)," the Mayor said in earlier statement. (Jade C. Zaldivar)