Cebu City council scrutinizes P470-million garbage-processing proposal

Local

A ₱220-MILLION price difference has put Cebu City’s ₱470-million garbage-processing proposal under council scrutiny, leading the City Council to return it to Mayor Nestor Archival’s office for clarification.

The council acted after Vice Mayor Tomas Osmeña questioned why Suki Trading Corp.’s proposed cost jumped from the ₱250-million quotation he received from the supplier in January.

During a recent regular session, Osmeña noted that he had previously worked with the supplier on a waste-processing proposal, which included inspecting the proposed site and equipment.

“I have here January, a quote of 250 million, and it's now 470 million,” Osmeña said. “It's my duty to try to defend what I got originally.”

The ₱470-million proposal was contained in a Sept. 22 letter of intent from Suki Trading president and CEO Engr. Victoriano Ocon addressed to Archival.

The proposal covers the supply, delivery, installation, testing, and commissioning of an Advanced Waste Solution with Environmental Pollution Control Device 500, described in the project terms as a pyrolysis machine, together with an Automatic Garbage Segregation Machine.

The terms of reference place the project at the South Road Properties or another available location, requiring an area of 5,000 square meters to one hectare. The ₱470-million approved budget covers two sets of the proposed equipment.

The company said the system is intended to reduce the city’s dependence on landfills, improve waste segregation, and support solid waste management under Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Osmeña, however, questioned the size of the increase and asked the council to clarify what changed between the earlier quotation and the current proposal.

“I don't think they should get away with this,” Osmeña said, while acknowledging that ₱470 million was still the lowest price he had seen for the proposed solution.

“The point is that we already made a deal at 250 million. Why is it, after talking to City Hall, it's now 470 million?”

He also told the council that the supplier had informed him that the signature on the latter letter was electronic and not the supplier’s actual signature.

Osmeña asked that the communication be withdrawn until the discrepancy could be clarified.

Councilor Harry Eran said the current proposal appeared different from what had previously been discussed, particularly in terms of the equipment and capacity.

He said the earlier concept involved manual segregation, while the new proposal included automatic segregation equipment and two waste-processing units.

He added that he was no longer privy to the negotiations between the supplier and the city.

Eran initially proposed an executive session with the supplier, the Mayor’s Office and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau to clarify the proposal.

Other council members, however, said the executive department should first examine the proposal before the council takes up its technical details.

Councilors Franklyn Ong, Mikel Rama and Alvin Arcilla supported referring the communication back to the Mayor’s Office, noting that the letter of intent had originally been addressed to Archival.

Rama said the executive department should study the proposal and determine the appropriate course of action before bringing it back to the council.

The council ultimately approved Rama’s motion to refer the proposal to the Mayor’s Office, together with Osmeña’s comments and the observations raised during the session.

The referral comes as Cebu City continues to seek longer-term solutions to its solid waste disposal problems after the Binaliw landfill disaster disrupted the city’s disposal arrangements and forced it to rely heavily on hauling garbage to Aloguinsan.(MyTVCebu)