Garbage and the environment

Ben  Contreras

“DINGDONG, dingdong.” That was the sound that made people come out with their garbage because the garbage collectors have arrived. They collected trash and picked up even those scattered on the ground. When they saw no garbage, they knocked at doors to courteously inquire if they have garbage to dispose. They used to come on a regular basis, in full uniform and wearing gloves. But that was once upon a time when in getting a business permit, only P1,500-garbage fee was collected. Indeed, that was once upon a time when the firm Basura at Iba Pa was the garbage collector.

Today, one pays P6,000 as garbage fee, and one businessman complained that his garbage is not being collected regularly. You have to complain to Clenro before they come to you.

The irregular garbage collections is just one of the complaints. They also select the garbage they pick and leave those scattered on the ground. So, why is the firm IPM getting away with this?

I am not surprised if many are missing the Basura at Iba Pa of Roland Ramos. I won’t be surprised also if the city is dirty, with many uncollected garbage even when they are very visible in many places.

It’s a wonder that a cap is being imposed on the volume of garbage to be picked up by IPM. According to Clenro, there are 19,000 cubic meters of garbage to be collected every month but the city government is only pays for 17,000 cubic meters. In the defense of IPM, Clenro Edwin Dael said that if IPM collects them all, they would be losing 2,000 cubic meters that translate into a few hundred thousands of pesos every month.

What kind of a deal did the city government enter into with IPM? Nobody has seen the contract. Perhaps, nobody will ever see the contract. It’s wrapped up in complete confidentiality. I thought government contracts are open to the public for scrutiny.

Well, this administration is not bereft of apologists. In fact, it has a coterie of them who are identifiable when a perceived attack against this administration is present.

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Anyway, let’s go to the issues of illegal activities in the hinterlands. Now that DENR Undersecretary Maria Paz Luna has conducted an aerial survey of the hinterlands and discovered the truth which has been kept for a few years by those in authorities, it is now clear that Clenro has been keeping us in the dark or they have not been doing their job religiously.

During the mayorship of Dongkoy Emano, we only heard of illegal mining but have not seen the sorry state of our mountains. When we saw some images after ABS-CBN conducted an actual survey, everyone was shocked to see an overcooked lechon skin-like crack. We were all shocked, including Dael.

Today, when we complained about illegal and unregulated quarrying, we are branded as pseudo environmentalists by apologists of Moreno, including Dael, who was once part of us in criticizing the past administration.

Now that the truth has surfaced, I wonder what they have to say. I know one. They are claiming credit for the survey and boast of the action they are going to take. What took them so long, if I may ask? I know another. They and their apologists a.k.a. attack dogs will attack me again. Let them, if that will make some people’s money’ worth.

Dentist Bob Ocio has done a good job in sending the message to Environment Secretary Gina Lopez and that probably is the reason why Luna came and conducted an aerial survey.

Our recent courtesy call to DENR-10 regional director Edwin Andot (thanks to Ms. Belen Daba who arranged the meeting) would probably result in more reforms to come and more actions in this effort to contain the illegal and unregulated activities in the hinterlands and nearby city areas.

Again, we say, thank you, Ms. Daba and Director Andot for your accommodation. I am sure we will meet again.