WHAT JUST HAPPENED. Cebu City's Sanggunian Wednesday, March 9, approved the joint venture agreement between a corporation called New Sky Energy Philippines Inc. for a waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in the city. It will occupy six hectares and operate for 40 years.
That, after more than three hours of discussion on two major points: Is the WTE method not prejudicial to public health and harmful to the environment? And where, o where, will it be built?
Majority party Barug ruled by a vote of nine over five from the minority BOPK, with two abstentions.
CONFLICT OVER METHOD. As early as December 2020, environmental groups called upon the City Government to abandon its plan for an incineration project. They rallied in front of City Hall's legislative building on National Day of Action on Climate Emergency on December 9 two years ago. Specific target was the JVA between Cebu City and New Sky Energy, which was then being negotiated.
The objection then and now -- with Councilor Alvin Dizon repeating the warning against the harm from WTE last Wednesday -- the method would emit more greenhouse gases that would worsen the climate change crisis.
EXPERTS OK'D PROJECT? Then city administrator Floro Casas Jr. promised that New Sky's proposal would be studied by the city's Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC). He used such phrases as "carefully treading the ground" and "looking out for the best interest of the present and future generations."
Dizon drew a reply from Councilor Joel Garganera who said there are many other countries, including Singapore and Japan, that use the new technology. Casas in 2020 also cited methods of regulation that would reduce or eliminate the harmful effects of burning waste. Casas also boasted of experts studying the issue. If those experts, unnamed and unheard from, recommended the use of WTE to the City, that was not talked about in the long discussion that preceded the JVE's approval.
AND, YES, THE SITE. Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr. repeatedly raised the question of site. Where would the incineration facility be placed? A specific site is needed to consider the cost for hauling the city's garbage and resolve the issue of its acceptability to residents of the area if it is populated.
Even in 2020, then city administrator Casas pointed to the lack of a chosen site as reason for delay in the negotiation between New Sky and the city's JVSC. It's the job of the builder to choose the site, he said. The City Council just approved the JVA. Would the mayor sign it even without an acceptable site?
COMPLAINT ON PAPERS, TIME. Minority Floor Leader Nestor Archival Sr. complained, as he often does over major projects of the city administration, not so much on the wisdom of an enterprise as the way it is being "rammed" for approval in the Sanggunian.
The usual complaints are lack of time to study the documents and the absence of papers supporting the proposal. Archival's fellow BOPK, Councilor Gabuya, said what they know about the WTE deal is information on the original proposal, not the amended offer. Councilor Phillip Zafra of Barug said the new proposal has been with the City Council for three or four sessions already. He didn't say the committee looking into the amended offer just submitted its report and what the councilors have is not the written contract for signature by the parties. Councilor Joy Pesquera had to rely on the word of Majority Floor Leader Raymond Alvin Garcia that the changes they asked for are already in the JVA.
CHANGES IN OFFER. One change that New Sky acceded to, per assurance of Councilor Garcia, is the removal of the requirement of a minimum volume of garbage the City has to supply to the plant. The cap has been opposed by Archival and Gabuya, among others, who said the City might not be able to meet the requirement. Besides, it would encourage people to produce more garbage for the City to collect the required quantity.
As to the price, Gabuya's insistence that it would cost more for the City as it would've to pay for the hauling to the transfer site, then to the plant, whose location was, again, still not known. Councilor Garcia conceded that WTE would cost more but what Gabuya seemed to be doing was comparing unequal things, "like apples and oranges." WTE would cost more because it would be more environmentally-attuned-to than, say, an ordinary landfill, Garcia in effect said. As to how much more, Gabuya and the public wouldn't know until the site is finally fixed and the cost computed.
MAJORITY RULES. On any major proposal, the minority can only hope that some councilors from Barug will vote with them, which often doesn't happen, particularly during the current run-up to the elections. When BOPK asks to "divide the house," it knows where the vote will go.
But before the vote, opposition councilors are routinely allowed to whine and pour out their woes, unsuppressed by the tolerant presiding officer, Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, and not pestered by the majority colleagues. Barug councilors even join the minority in making innumerable requests for documents and other information.
The "bottom line" and "at the end of the day," favorite expressions of some councilors: Barug gets its way, for now. The May elections may change that if BOPK will get majority of the seats next time.