By Ben Rosario Mountainous Baguio City is being plagued with mountains of garbage that have taken a huge toll on the city’s financial resources. The Commission on Audit made this observation in its 2017 annual audit report for the country’s summer capital. COA said city officials must quickly address the problem of solid waste management disposal as it drains city resources, making it cough at least P472.46 million since 2011. The COA disclosed that the budget for hauling and dumping garbage could balloon further unless the city government is able to put in harness a solid waste management disposal facility. State auditors lamented that the expenses have denied the city government the implementation of other development plans. According to COA the annual garbage disposal expenses “could have been used for a more significant development project of the City," the COA lamented in its 2017 annual audit report. Despite the seeming garbage crisis, the state audit agency cited Mayor Mauricio Domogan for leading the city government in exerting “all its effort to curb its production of garbage by conducting an intensive information education and communication campaign on solid waste reduction practices.” However, such sincere efforts to tap the public in addressing the solid waste problems, Baguio City, still generated 56,000 tons of waste in 2017, above the yearly average of 50,000 tons. According to COA, the expenses will further increase since the hauling (delivery via truck) and tipping (dumping in the Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, landfill) fees amount to P935.50 and P550 per metric ton, respectively. To further solve the problem, audit examiners said the city government must fast-track its study of the offer of Benguet Corp., which offered its Antamok open pit as the site for a nearer permanent waste facility.