THE Davao City Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) reported that they extracted more than 6,000 cubic meters of waste in 2024.
Paul Bermejo, head of ASU, said that they collected around 6,795 cubic meters, which is equivalent to 1,699 truckloads of silt, sludge, and trash from the drainage systems of Davao City throughout 2024.
“Yes nitaas siya tungod siguro ni sa wala kaayo naga-cooperate ang atoang constituents sa barangay level, gasalig lang ang tanan sa city government (Yes, it has increased probably because of the lack of cooperation from our constituents at the barangay level. Everyone is just relying on the city government),” he said during the ISpeak Media Forum, on Thursday morning, January 30, 2025, at the City Mayor's Office (CMO).
Bermejo encourages barangays in the city to establish their own canal brigades, which would be responsible for cleaning the canals in their respective areas. He said that if barangays would create their cleaning teams, they would no longer have to wait for the city to clean their areas. He revealed that, of the 182 barangays in the city, only one has an official canal brigade. However, Bermejo noted that some barangays have volunteers and workers who are paid by the city to clean and de-clog canals.
He also said that to better manage the drainage system, the city has partnered with a Japanese engineering company to install flood and silt monitoring devices. He said they are recommending this to the City Mayor so that more devices could be installed.
Currently, these devices are in place at Tulip Drive and Magsaysay Avenue, and they hope to add more devices throughout the city’s drainage system. The devices will help them monitor the water levels in the canals, as the alert system sends an email notification to their computers when the water or silt level rises.
Bermejo said that there has been an increase in the number of communities requesting assistance from ASU to de-clog canals after rains and flooding. He emphasized that their office has mostly been taking reactive measures and is now looking into conducting proactive activities in collaboration with the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
He said they are currently waiting for the procurement of equipment to speed up their canal de-clogging efforts. This includes specialized equipment such as vacuum jetting trucks, additional trucks, and slurry pumps. RGP
