AFTER the pronouncement by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama that he does not want to see any more garbage and street dwellers in the city by June 12, barangay captains said they share the same urgency in addressing the problem.
Kirk Bryan Repollo, barangay captain of Barangay Inayawan, said this had always been a priority for their barangay. He said this is the reason they purchased four garbage trucks.
“In Barangay Inayawan, our garbage collection is intensive. That’s why we bought four garbage trucks, so that as much as possible, there is no delay in our collection, especially in the main line,” Repollo said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Barangay Sambag 2 is also in on the calls of the mayor to achieve a litter-free city, especially in its area, but there are concerns on the distance of landfills from their barangays.
“We are really doing our best to collect the garbage. There is no problem with that. The only issue is that the landfill is a bit far,” Ryan Aznar, barangay captain of Sambag 2, said.
He added that because of the transfer station that used to be in Inayawan, the trucks could collect trash twice a day because they could just dump the garbage at the station and it was hauled from there.
But because of the traffic on the way to the landfill, the garbage trucks of the barangay can only collect once a day, Aznar said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas ordered the closure of the Inayawan waste transfer station operated by RMI Solid Waste Management and Hauling Services on July 7, 2021 for, among other reasons, storing trash at the facility for more than 24 hours, essentially making the facility an open dumpsite.
Thereafter, the Department of Public Services advised all barangays in Cebu City to dispose of their garbage directly at the sanitary landfill in Barangay Binaliw.
Another problem on is litter by the roadsides that they can no longer monitor and control.
The hotspots are closely monitored, but Aznar said they cannot really monitor every time, which is why people throw their garbage when the officers and monitors are no longer there.
Street dwellers
Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare Services (DSWS) told SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, April 19, that for the street dwellers in the city, they have been taking action with night and day surveys.
“Ato na siya gitabangan nga ma anam-anam, kay ang kanang uban nga naa sa dalan, taga Cebu City ra jud na. Niya naay mga balay,” Easter Concha, officer-in-charge of DSWS, said.
(We are slowly helping them because some of those on the streets are just from Cebu City and have houses.)
She added that other street dwellers are from neighboring cities, and they are exerting all efforts to clear the streets even before the June 12 deadline of Rama.
Street dwellers that are found by the city government team are woken up and transported by the city vehicle to a temporary shelter at the South Road Properties area.
“Ang kanang uban nangatog diha daplin sa dalan, ginakuha na sila nato sa Cebu City government na sakyanan, adto pakatulgon. Adto sila ginapakatulog didto (sa temporary shelter sa SRP),” Concha added.
She could not give an estimate on the number of street dwellers in the city.
Aznar of Barangay Sambag 2 also said that for the actions on the street dwellers along the roads, the barangay will be extending its assistance to the city as much as it can.