“When things go wrong in a local government unit, its chief executive is expected to be at the forefront in finding solutions to the problem at hand.â€
“Clearly, that’s not the case now with the waste disposal problem in the city,†asserts Dampas Barangay Captain Fredison Ingles who was found at the receiving end of being designated by the city mayor to solve the garbage problem.
This came on the eve of the city's 43rd Charter Day celebration last Tuesday where the city announced to the nation through a full page ad in a national daily that bannered the caption "Tagbilaran City, The Little City With Big Dreams."
The city mayor took a confusing step on Tuesday in addressing the dilemma by appointing the Dampas barangay captain to manage the city’s open dumpsite in Dampas.
In his radio program, the mayor told Ingles that he will be given two weeks to solve the garbage problem.
Barangay captain Ingles who laughed off the challenge said "if the mayor could not solve the problem with all his resources at the city hall, then, how can a barangay official solve such gigantic problem."
"Why give his problem to me?" Ingles asked, when "I don't have the expertise and the training on garbage management unlike Engr. Jimenez who has formal training on garbage disposal".
Putting aside the expertise of the city government’s trained solid waste management official, Engr. Edmund Jimenez, the mayor virtually gave the responsibility of the entire implementation of the city solid waste management program to Ingles.
Meanwhile, there were reports that Jimenez might tender his resignation or retirement from the city government amid this garbage issue which put his office in bad light due to lack of support to his recommendations.
He said the discussion on the matter in the local media embarrassed him being the person in charge of garbage disposal.
It maybe recalled that Jimenez and City Health Officer Antonio Porticos were barred by the city mayor to attend the session of the Sangguniang Panlungsod which was supposed to discuss the garbage problem.
"They have other important things to do," the mayor said in his letter to the vice mayor as presiding officer.
This move was met with skepticism by the Dampas barangay captain who openly admitted he does not have the technical competence to assume such task alongside with his official duties in the barangay.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Ingles said he is faced with a big dilemma as he cannot turn his back from his responsibility as barangay captain of Dampas where the city dumpsite is situated.
“The city executive should be mainly accountable for the waste disposal problem as the entire city throws its waste at the dumpsite,†he said.
The barangay chief said that he was shocked on the attitude of the city mayor of "turning his back" on a duty which is his since the garbage dumped in the dumpsite belongs to the entire city, and not just of Dampas district.
Ingles stressed that there is a specific unit in the city government tasked to handle the management of solid wastes. But, since the waste disposal facility is situated in Dampas, he will strive to deal with the problem.
Vice Mayor Jose Antonio Veloso said the mayor is passing the responsibility of the garbage problem as things have gone wrong at the Dampas dumpsite recently, when instead the situation could have been decisively addressed by the city chief executive himself.
Veloso said the mayor’s move on the garbage issue can best be described as a “denial to take action to a very crucial environmental concern."
He said, instead of imposing a stringent policy on waste management, the mayor is starting a public perception of indifference towards waste disposal which should be everyone’s responsibility.
source: The Bohol Chronicle
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