The worsening garbage crisis in Cebu City is infuriating — not only because the waste is piling up, but because city officials would rather point fingers than deliver a real solution.
Whether the problem arose from the closure or failure of a disposal facility, inadequate collection, poor segregation, lack of enforcement, or disagreements among city officials, the obligation to manage solid waste remains.
According to a new report by SunStar Daily, Cebu City may soon run out of funds for garbage hauling and disposal as the City Government continues to spend millions of pesos daily to transport waste to Aloguinsan.
Councilor Dave Tumulak, chairman of the City Council committee on budget and finance, warned that the current allocation could be exhausted if the present setup continues. The annual garbage expense is almost ₱1 billion after waste was rerouted to Aloguinsan due to the closure of the Binaliw sanitary landfill.
Garbage, however, does not point fingers at who is to blame. This is a public health and legal responsibility — not a political football. But the bickering among city officials only makes the situation worse.
Garbage does not care which administration caused the problem. It does not care which department failed to collect it. It does not care whether the landfill problem was inherited or created by the present administration.
And when garbage piles up, the consequences are not political. They become public health and environmental problems.
This is precisely why we have Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
The City Government has had 25 years since RA 9003 was enacted to put a sustainable system in place — segregation at source, barangay materials recovery facilities, collection of segregated waste, recycling and composting, and, ultimately, the proper disposal of residual waste in a compliant sanitary landfill or shared facility.
The law is clear about where the responsibility lies. Section 10 provides that “local government units (LGUs) are primarily responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the law within their respective jurisdictions.”
That responsibility cannot be passed around like a political hot potato.
More importantly, Section 16 requires every province, city, and municipality to prepare its own 10-year solid waste management plan and ensure the efficient management of solid waste generated within its jurisdiction. Has there been a solid waste management plan?
The LGU’s solid waste management plan must identify existing disposal facilities, prospective sites, and future disposal requirements. Section 17 expressly provides that “sanitary landfill sites shall be developed and operated as final disposal sites for the solid and, eventually, residual wastes of a municipality or city — or a cluster of municipalities and/or cities.”
Although RA 9003 does not necessarily require Cebu City to own a landfill exclusively for itself, it allows LGUs to establish or participate in a shared or clustered facility.
In fact, Section 44 expressly mandates provinces, cities, municipalities, and barangays to coordinate and consolidate their efforts, services, and resources for the establishment of common waste disposal facilities.
So, if Cebu City’s problem is that it does not have a suitable landfill of its own, the law itself provides an alternative: work with neighboring LGUs and establish a compliant common facility.
What the law does not provide is an excuse for doing nothing. Nor does RA 9003 allow an LGU to simply collect garbage and then worry later about where to put it.
Section 32 requires a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in every barangay or cluster of barangays. After sorting, segregation, composting, and recycling, the resulting residual wastes are to be transferred to a long-term storage or disposal facility or sanitary landfill. But has this MRF mandate been complied with?
In other words, there must be an entire system — from segregation at source to collection, recycling, composting, and, finally, the safe disposal of residual waste.
Instead of asking who should be blamed for the garbage problem, city officials should be asking: What does RA 9003 require us to do, and why have we not done it adequately?
The people of Cebu City are not interested in a contest of accusations. All they want is their garbage collected, clean streets, and a drainage system free of plastic bottles, food containers, and other waste.
And they want city officials to work together to establish a permanent, environmentally compliant system of waste disposal.
The garbage problem is not merely an issue of politics, personality, or administrative preference. It is a statutory responsibility.
Officials may disagree over who started the problem. They may debate who failed in the past. They may even accuse previous administrations of neglect.
But while they are arguing, the garbage truck still has to run.
The waste still has to be segregated.
The residual waste still has to go somewhere.
And the city still has to remain clean and sanitary.
Perhaps it is time for our city officials to start asking: What is the solution — and when will we implement it?
Because garbage does not vote.
Garbage does not take sides.
It only reminds us, every day, when government fails to do its job.