The Pasig City local government has acquired two more garbage trucks for the city’s Solid Waste Management Office (SWMO) as it seeks to improve its garbage collection system pursuant to its vow to set greener policies for the city. On Monday, April 17, Mayor Vico Sotto announced that the 11th City Council has approved the garbage truck acquisition in the city’s supplemental budget for this year. The trucks will be part of the local government’s efforts to transition to collection and management of garbage and waste by administration, instead of hiring contractors, within five years. The pilot run of the new garbage collection scheme started last April 2022 and has since been gradually applied to various barangays in the city. During this period, Sotto said there were fewer reported complaints by residents compared to the old collection system. Through the “collection by admin” method, the local government will be able to reduce some of its spending expenses since they will no longer need contractors for the service. According to the mayor, it will “end the recurring problem of contractors having difficulties every December after Christmas” and there will be “no more risk of changing contractors and adjustment periods every year,” especially since the city is implementing an open bidding system. Since the collectors are now local government staff, they can be appropriately disciplined instead of simply imposing penalties on the contractors. Sotto emphasized that the “by admin” approach will make it “more difficult for future mayors to make corrupt deals.” (Mayor Vico Sotto Facebook Page / MANILA BULLETIN)
The new garbage trucks will add to the existing eight that were used in the pilot runs in Barangay Pinagbuhatan last year. There are over 30 field staff of SWMO who are conducting the collection. “Nasa tamang direksyon po tayo. So mamadaliin po natin ito. This year may dalawang bagong truck, pero yung marami po sigurong dadating 2024 iyon. Bu-budgetan na talaga natin (We are going in the right direction, so we will rush this [process]. We have two new trucks this year, but many more will come in 2024. We will allot portions of our budget for this),” Sotto said. He also advised other department and office heads, civil society organization (CSO) leaders, and other stakeholders to include waste management improvements within their priority programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) for the proposed 2024 Annual Investment Program (AIP). Sotto urged them to focus on the areas that are having difficulties with involving or managing contractors. He suggested that there may be sectors that the local government can manage and handle itself instead of a third-party. Since Saturday, April 15, the local government, led by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and SWMO have begun conducting the Waste Analysis and Characterization Study (WACS). CENRO and SWMO Chief Allendri Angeles described WACS as an in-depth study using science and data-gathering to quantify the amount of garbage that is thrown away by Pasiguenos daily, as well as the percentage of each kind of waste. The results of this study will be included in the updates of the city’s 10-year Solid Waste Management Plan, Angeles said. The local government is conducting the system in cooperation with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and the private sector.