CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Netizens here have called on the city government to get a new collector to fix the garbage problem. The netizens expressed their sentiments by commenting on the statement released by the City Local and Environment and Natural Resources Office (CLENRO) here and circulated in the social media. “Unta masulbad na kay ang mga damak na tao bisan as ana ginasab-it ilang mga hugaw, pati sakyanan sab-itan og basura (I hope this will solve because nasty people were putting their waste everywhere, even in a car, they put their garbage on it),” a certain Shiela said in her comment to a CLENRO statement posted by a radio reporter here. A certain John, who also commented on the same post, questioned the process of getting a new garbage collector for taking so long. “Grabeha uy. Kadaghan contractor sa mga garbage collection sa Pinas wala juy nakuha? Or walay muhatag? ([There are] many contractors for garbage collection in the country and did not get either one of those?),” he said in his comment. Clotilde Gutierrez, a resident of Barangay Camaman-an, also commented on the same statement posted by City Councilor Maria Lourdes Gaane, asking if a garbage collection could penetrate their area. “Daghan nami basura. Pwede ba kagawad nga maanhaan pud me bisan kaisa lang sa isa ka semana (We have a lot of garbage. Is it possible, councilor, that the garbage collection would also visit us at least once a week),” she said in her comment. In a statement released on March 7, the CLENRO informed the residents here that the city government was still searching for a private garbage collector. The contract of the IPM Waste CDO—the previous garbage collector in the city—had actually ended on Jan. 31 this year. Engineer Armen Cuenca, CLENRO Head, said there were two companies that presented their bids, however, during the evaluation of the technical working group (TWG), the lowest bidder was being disqualified as it failed to comply with the terms of reference (TOR) and other legal documents that needed to be submitted. The local government, Cuenca said, is now waiting for the other lowest bidder to comply with the requirements. “Hopefully, nga sila nakasubay sa gusto nato nga mahitabo (they follow what we wanted to happen),” Cuenca said in a phone interview on Thursday, March 9, adding that it would be another long process if the other bidder will fail to comply with the necessary requirements. In the released statement, Cuenca expressed hope that the city government would have a new garbage collector before the end of March this year. The city government has already secured its contingency plan by organizing a special collection team that would maintain the garbage collection in the city. The major streets, including public markets and urban barangays have been prioritized for the first trip of the garbage collection. The second trip would start collecting wastes from different barangays in the city. However, the CLENRO said the office has only a limited number of vehicles to be used for the collection of garbage. In line with this, Cuenca urged the residents to put their garbage in a proper way and patiently wait for the collection due to the limited vehicles.