Bacolod Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairman of the Sanggunian Committee on Environment,  said yesterday that  garbage collection in Bacolod City will normalize starting today and attributed the delay in its collection recently to a new  requirement of the Commission on Audit.

Espino said  that, before, they could purchase  gasoline in advance but there were changes in the procurement procedures as required by COA, so that, right now, whatever  amount of gasoline the Department of Public Services uses is the only amount they can withdraw, he said.

 Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said Mayor  Evelio Leonardia has already signed  purchase orders yesterday that  will be paid to the supplier so  they can withdraw gasoline  for  use by the dump trucks in  garbage collection.

 This is in compliance with the COA Rules and Regulations, Sayson  said, in an interview over DYRL.

Espino said the two Purchase Orders signed by the mayor yesterday will give them access to 15,000 liters of gasoline which will be good for 15 days. The gasoline requirement of the DPS is 1,000-1,2000 liters a day, he said.

He also assured that garbage collection will continue to be normal in Bacolod.

 Councilor Archie Bariba in an interview over Aksyon Radyo yesterday  said  that  if the city does not pick up his garbage, he will deliver it to the government center.

He said he believes  the non-collection of garbage was deliberately done to justify the need to privatize garbage collection in the city.

Baribar said that,  starting January, the city has not provided any budget for garbage collection in its Annual Budget.

He said the budget for garbage collection will be taken from the Annual Investment Program amounting to P20 million.

The city needs at least P34 million for the whole year, which was not provided in its 2012 Annual Budget, he added.

Sayson said  Leonardia has tasked him and Espino to attend to the processing of purchase orders for the gasoline requirement of the city’s dump trucks after discussing the garbage problem with them.

Espino said they already have almost 15 liters for the DPS and garbage collection will resume today. The fund was taken from the General Fund item for fuel at P20 million under the AIP, he said.

He said they did not anticipate the problem,  but the important thing is that they are trying to find a solution.

Meanwhile, Sayson said he believes there is tremendous improvement in the traffic situation in Bacolod City,  especially with the construction of the Northbound Terminal in Brgy. Bata.

He said the Northbound terminal has reduced the big volume of vehicles traversing Lacson Street and B.S. Aquino Drive.

Sayson said they have also made innovations, especially along Araneta Street where they separated the lanes for private and public vehicles and this  has improved  the traffic situation in the downtown area.

Traffic sometimes clogs up especially when there are vehicular accidents, he said.

Sayson said the traffic situation in Bacolod has greatly improved especially under the supervision of Traffic Management Unit head Police Chief Inspector Luisito Acebuche.*CGS

back to top