The Commission on Audit (COA) has found tell-tale signs of mismanagement, and even corruption, in Iloilo City’s garbage collection system that has become a P70-million business annually.

This emerged as the COA prodded the city government “to review the reasonableness of price on garbage collection and disposal activities, intensify collection on garbage fees, and ensure efficient and effective delivery of services to the public.”

In its Annual Audit Report (AAR) for the fiscal year 2010, the COA wondered why only one contractor, J. S. Layson, cornered several contracts for garbage collection and transport services, rental of equipment for bulldozing, leveling and compacting of garbage and soil cover, and loading and hauling of soil cover of garbage at the Calajunan dumpsite.

Indeed, the rental of equipment is questionable because the city government acquired its own bulldozer and dump trucks as part of a P90-million loan in 2006 for the rehabilitation and improvement of the garbage facility, according to a solid waste management expert of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

“Why is the city government paying for equipment rental when it has its own bulldozer and dump trucks to do the job?” the expert said.

The expert asked not to be identified because he is connected with a government agency tasked to enforce the Ecological Solid Waste Management Program mandated by Republic Act 9003.

The COA report cited the lack of monitoring mechanisms that would keep track of the volume of garbage collected and disposed. As it is, there are no trip tickets and stipulations on the volume of garbage that would check the veracity of billing statement of the contractor.

The COA hinted the contract for the garbage services did not undergo a rigorous bidding process to elicit the best possible price for the city.

“The City of Iloilo should ensure that the procurement process promotes competition through sufficient publicity in order to obtain the most advantageous price to the LGU,” the COA findings noted.

In raising questions about the contracted services for the dumpsite, the COA also asked the city government to “re-assess its own capabilities to undertake the activity by administration, partly or wholly.”

COA suggested that the city employ cost-benefit analysis in “revisiting the most advantageous option for each specific activity, that is, by administration or straight contract with private parties.”

The city, COA pointed out, “can provide the manpower and purchase its own heavy equipment and/or utilize existing ones.”

The COA findings bring to the fore the achievements, or the lack of it, for the city’s rehabilitation and improvement plan for Calajunan for which it spent P90 million drawn from a loan with the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The rehabilitation plan was supposed to bring about the complete closure of the controlled dumpsite two years ago and pave the way for the operation of a sanitary landfill.

But two years after the deadline, there is little to show in terms of substantial gain in the Calajunan dumpsite, the DENR expert who helped The News Today analyze the situation said.

“The money is almost completely wasted… the MRF (materials recovery facility) is a white elephant… the garbage remains unsegregated,” the expert said.

The expert described the city’s garbage collection system as a “total mess,” a blatant violation of RA 9003 which could lead to the prosecution of local officials, including Mabilog, he said.

On August 31, the Iloilo Regional Trial Court Branch 28 under Judge Loida Diestro-Maputol will resume its hearings on the petition for preliminary injunction filed by local residents and NGOs to compel the city government to shut down the dumpsite.

The city government has been ordered by Judge Diestro-Maputol to furnish the petitioners a copy of its accomplishment report on the rehabilitation and improvement efforts in Calajunan.*Manuel ‘Boy’ Mejorada