ALTHOUGH he thinks the students of the University of Cebu-Maritime Education and Training Center in Barangay Mambaling are “lucky” to have been offered the financial assistance, Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said it’s unlikely for the P5,000 cash aid to restore the focus of the former when they get a whiff of the stench coming from the sanitary landfill in Barangay Inayawan.
In an earlier report, Mayor Tomas Osmeña told reporters that he’s worried about the maritime students, which prompted him to make a proposal of paying all of the latter for the inconvenience.
“I’d rather give it (money) to them than giving it to some hauler nga fly-by-night,” he said.
A photo of the students wearing masks while attending classes caught social media attention last week. It was uploaded by Emmanuel Pacudan Crucio, an instructor of the university.
Labella said he is “saddened” by Osmeña’s remarks.
“Maybe the mayor is interested to give us all a teachable moment. Maybe he’s trying to school us all over again about the meaning of the public good. Let’s have the public decide, then, on the sagacity of the mayor’s actions,” he said in an interview.
He said that instead of paying the affected to stop them from complaining about the stench, the chief executive must find a solution such as looking for a new landfill or even negotiating anew with Asian Energy Systems Corp. in Consolacion.
He, however, said the matter must first be discussed with the other members of the City Council.
He said that good governance is supposed to facilitate the process of livelihood, not hinder it.
When this happens, the constituents can see with their eyes that the government is not doing well.
“So if you’re a city official, what do you do? Do you just pay people to stop saying they don’t smell the crap? Pay them not to complain that the City Government is messing with them?” Labella asked.
Meanwhile, as part of its commitment to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 7-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR7-EMB), the Cebu City Government is now recognizing scavengers in the landfill.
In a Facebook post, former councilor and current environmental consultant Nida Cabrera announced that the City’s ninth commitment to EMB dated Sept. 2 was accomplished last Thursday along with a furnished organizational paper and a master list of the scavengers.
“The informal waste pickers shall be formalized to form into an organization and a list shall be provided (to EMB),” she said.
Aside from the documents and the list, Cabrera also submitted a copy of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) executed in June 1997 between the City and GKK-Lihok Pagtinabangay Multi-Pupose Cooperative, a group then composed of 300 scavengers.
Signed by then mayor Alvin Garcia and GKK-Lihok president Danila Constantino, the MOA allows the group members access on the recyclable trash from the materials recovery operation of the facility.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to reach Cabrera for more details on the move, but got no response.
