BAGUIO CITY – Parties involved in the direct hauling of garbage from the city to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac vehemently denied allegations that big boulders of concrete rocks are being loaded to garbage trucks adding up to the weight of waste being hauled out to Tarlac.
City General Services Officer Romeo D. Concio informed members of the city council that the city is shipping out at least 134 to 137 tons of residual waste daily from its present staging area in Lamtang, Puguis, La Trinidad to the engineered landfill in Tarlac.
He said the city government is again set to conduct a public bidding on the hauling of waste outside the city in order to ensure that the city government will continue to get the best offer from interested haulers.
Currently, the city government is paying P930.50 per ton of garbage representing hauling fee and another P500 per ton for tipping fee at the Capas landfill.
Jimmy Pugoy, a general services office foreman assigned in the Lamtang staging area, disclosed based on records, the garbage trucks leaving the staging area is much heavier compared to the weight of the trucks and their load when officially weighed at the landfill.
Aside from the GSO personnel maintaining a record of the waste being hauled out from the staging area, Pugoy said the city hauler, Camilo Freight Services and the security agency maintaining order in the area are also maintaining separate records in relation to the number of trucks and the volume of waste being hauled out from the area.
Upon arrival at the Capas landfill, Pugoy said the trucks and their load are again officially weighed and the records are submitted to the city government as part of the billing of Metro Clark to the obligation of the city government on the disposal of the city’s residual waste.
According to him, based on available records, it was observed that the figures coming from the management of Metro Clark is lesser by around 300 kilos compared to the weight of the trucks and waste when it left the staging area.
He pointed out the based on the data obtained from the staging area and the sanitary landfill, there is no truth to the allegations that there are boulders which are loaded into the garbage trucks and brought to the landfill area.
In relation to the presence of pe3ices of concrete pavements in the area, Pugyo explained the said rocks are used by the hauler to put up an elevated platform to prevent the garbage from being mixed with the soil that will emit obnoxious odor that might crate serious problems among the residents in the future.
The representative of the hauler revealed the pieces of concrete pavements were taken from the on-going works along Naguilian road and it was easier for them to haul the big boulders from the highway to the staging area because the project site was much nearer and that they were used to put up an elevated platform in the staging area to make it easier for their heavy equipment to load the residual waste to the trucks.
Camilo is the hauler of the residual waste of Baguio City and La Trinidad, Benguet from its staging area in Lamtang up to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac and the same hauling has been going on over the past several years now.
By Dexter A. See
