Everybody in Cebu City is buzzing about the “garbagegate” scandal, especially after the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed eight former and incumbent City Hall officials for their alleged involvement in a P239 million garbage anomaly.
You’d expect them to be upset, or even embarrassed, by the news. And maybe they are. After all, the Ombudsman also found probable cause to indict them on criminal complaints: one count of malversation of public funds and one count of violating Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019, also known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
But not Floro Casas Jr., the former city administrator and a lawyer by profession.
He told SunStar in a phone interview that the Ombudsman’s decision effectively dismissed the “plunder” complaint filed against him and the seven others.
“Medyo happy ko ana nga resolution because the Ombudsman found nga dili tinuod nga naay plunder, walay findings of plunder sa among kaso,” he said.
(I’m somewhat happy with that resolution because the Ombudsman found that the plunder allegations were not true; there are no findings of plunder in our case.)
For a more in-depth analysis of this issue, I recommend reading the piece by the former editor-in-chief of SunStar Cebu: https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/seares-ex-city-administrator-floro-casas-jr-sounds-almost-jubilant.
As I said, everyone’s talking about the garbage anomaly in the city. And yet — and it’s a big yet — no one is discussing the growing problem of homelessness. Although, I’m not entirely sure if they are truly without a home.
I’ve always planned to sit down with some of these individuals and ask what brought them to this situation. But I never seem to find the time, even though I pass many of them on my way to and from the office. Until then, I can only guess.
Perhaps they’re from the mountain barangays who moved to the downtown and uptown areas hoping for a better life. Or maybe they came from far-flung towns in Cebu Province, hoping to make it here in the Queen City of the South. Maybe.
The majority of them are men, but there are also a handful of women and some children. They aren’t as conspicuous during the day; perhaps some have actual work and simply can’t afford rent. That might explain why they only appear at night, with their cardboard serving as a makeshift bed.
Again, I don’t know the circumstances that led them to their current situation, so I try not to be judgmental. I’m sure that most of them — those who are in their right mind — didn’t choose this way of life. But I draw the line when they treat sidewalks as their private toilets.
Perhaps this should serve as a wake-up call for the current city administration to provide more “green, open spaces” where our less privileged residents can attend to their bodily functions. Their makeshift bathroom used to be the two skywalks along Osmeña Blvd., which were torn down to make way for the first phase of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project.
I saw members of the Cebu City Transportation Office conducting a clearing operation along the sidewalks of P. Del Rosario St. on July 25, 2025. They towed illegally parked vehicles (mostly motorcycles), issued citation tickets and removed makeshift signages obstructing pedestrian paths. I doubt their mandate includes removing informal settlers who have made the sidewalks their home.
So, who will address this problem before it gets out of hand?