By RALPH JOHN MIJARES
ROXAS City — Progress has its disadvantages, too.
Mayor Angel Alan Celino claimed that the rise in the number of businesses has contributed to the garbage problems in this city.
“Businesses and industrial plants in Roxas City have remarkably mushroomed in recent months,” said Celino.
There was a time when Roxas was the fastest-growing city in Western Visayas in terms of the construction of hotels and tourism-related businesses, the mayor said, citing Department of Tourism data.
“Naturally, this resulted into bigger volumes of wastes — something that this administration needs to address quickly,” he said.
Roxas City produces 73 metric tons of garbage a day, or 26,679 metric tons a year, the mayor said, citing the 2008 Rapid Waste Assessment and Characterization Study of the German Technical Cooperation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau Region 6.
This study, he said, was conducted before big plants and businesses, including a new mall at Pueblo de Panay that opened in February, were built.
Celino asked for patience and support from the residents, assuring them that the city government will provide a long-term solution to the garbage problem.
“Aware that such problem cannot be solved in a day or two, [the city] must have a concrete plan” that could best solve the problem, he said in a post on the Facebook page of the Roxas City Press Bureau.
One of the solutions is putting up a “credible” sanitary landfill in Barangay San Jose, said Celino.
On Tuesday last week, the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved a P13.5-million budget for the purchase of a bulldozer to be used to gather garbage here.
None of the city’s bulldozers were functional, Councilor Matthew James Viterbo said.
Celino promised to look for more funds to buy more heavy equipment needed for garbage collection.
“In the meantime, I appeal for your help, support and understanding, until such time that we have acquired the necessary resources needed to beef up our solid waste management program,” he said./PN
