By Anthony Aniscal
Bohol Chronicle
The collection of garbage in the city has become worst this week after seven out of 13 garbage trucks broke down due to engine trouble as spare parts need to be bought from Manila.
In fact, residents have to wait until wee hours just to have their garbage be collected by the sanitary officers.
City Solid Waste Management Office Head Edmund Jimenez admitted this last Tuesday.
Jimenez explained that most of the garbage compactors utilized by the city government were donated by Japan. With this, spare parts needed, when these compactors are out of commission, have to be purchased in Manila because there had been no available stock here and in Cebu City.
The Solid Waste chief added that since those garbage trucks were delivered by Japan at the same time, the possibility of breaking down together is almost inevitable just as what happened this week.
However, Jimenez assured the public that there is an appropriate budget being allocated for the purchase of spare parts. In fact, he already ordered these spare parts in Manila yet he has no idea when they will arrive.
“These trucks will immediately reactivated once the spare parts from Manila will be availableâ€, Jimenez said.
Among the garbage trucks that were down this week include two colors blue and two colors yellow which are both ten-ton trucks capable of collecting huge garbage from the main streets in the city. Aside from those, two other 8 ton-garbage trucks were also down. Overall, un-utilizable garbage trucks include numbers 20, 28, 19, 4, 16, 15 and 9.
Due to the situation, small garbage trucks were the ones serving the routes of the bigger trucks just to collect the garbage from the residents. Since these small trucks have their own regular routes, subsidiary routes are only taken after their primary schedules.
Considering that the city has more than ninety thousand inhabitants, the current six running small garbage trucks cannot possibly compensate for the absence of bigger compactors.
In fact, a small garbage truck this week was bodily pushed by residents of Jansen Heights in Brgy Dampas as it appeared to have an engine trouble. It was learned from the driver that they had just done collecting garbage in Brgy Mansasa before proceeding to Brgy Dampas. The next day, that same garbage truck parked idly almost in the middle of the street going to HNU High School as it clearly appeared to have another engine trouble.
Jimenez added that the idea of renting private garbage compactors is not possible since no budget for that purpose is included in the annual procurement plan.
“Much as I want to rent private compactors just to compensate the temporary absence of our bigger trucks, the COA will run after my office because there have been no budget for such purposeâ€, Jimenez explained.
Jimenez asked the residents to extend more patience in dealing with the problem that the solid waste management is currently facing which also affected everyone. The solid waste chief assured that both the short and long term solution are being looked upon. In fact, Jimenez said that the city mayor plans to purchase brand new garbage compactors.
Aside from the problem of the garbage trucks, Jimenez also admitted that the current physical status in the garbage area in Brgy Dampas is becoming more serious. Residents of Brgy Cangguining Baclayon, who regularly pass by the garbage area going to the city, are finding it hard to utilize the road due to the presence of garbage even in the middle of the road.
Jimenez said that as of now, the bulldozer being rented by the city government to be used in pushing the garbage is unavailable as it is under repair. According to Jimenez, heavy equipment to be utilized in the garbage area will not last long due to the acids emanating from the garbage which destroy the spare parts easily.
The city solid waste management chief assured the public that there are pending plans for the garbage solution in the city which has the support of the city mayor.
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