Garbage Fees Hiked 1000%
December 17, 2008 by lisa
Filed under better baguio initiative
You may have noticed that my most recent posts have been on “good things” like strawberries and blankets. This is because I figured to focus more on the wonderful things about the City of Pines instead of the currents issues plaguing the city, it being Christmas and all.
I was so wanting to post pretty photos of attractions and products to go with the new design, too. Political writing will just give us photos of the same folks most of the time, or none at all! Now this particular topic cannot have a photo because I refuse to have folks associate my beautiful city with visions of uncollected garbage.
However, one piece of news caught my eye and Mayor Bautista will probably fall off his seat because I will finally agree with him an issue that may be unpopular with the residents here. It has to do with the raising of garbage fees for the residents and businesses in Baguio City for 2009.
According to this news report:
Garbage collection rates for households will be raised from Php50 to Php500 while those for businesses will be raised from Php100 per commercial building to Php1,200 per commercial establishment.
Honestly, folks will complain that the city is merely trying to earn back the Php60,000,000.00 (read sixty million) that the mayor awarded to Metro Waste Services for just four months of hauling our garbage to Tarlac, that the (mis)handling of the garbage issue was his doing, but here is why I agree with Mayor Bautista on the fee hike:
Baguio is selling itself too cheaply if all it attracts as residents are mostly those who will only drain its natural resources. And I don’t mean to be elitist or anti-”poor” here — it just that, judging from the way the city looks these days, attracting mostly folks who will join the hordes of the unemployed to migrate to Baguio is honestly bad business for the city.
It will be better business for the city to attract those who have money to invest and who will create jobs, and who will not complain about garbage fees. Thus, a household that cannot afford Php500 for all the Jollibee plastic and styrofoam that they throw away does not deserve to live in Baguio City.
Here are some other points on the garbage fees:
1. While we’re at it, I propose that there should be a distinction as to the garbage collection fees for full service restaurants and fast food restaurants or take-out counters. Because for the latter category, one cannot judge the volume of the garbage they produce from just their garbage bags alone because the customers bring home the disposables and they appear as trash belonging to the households. And honestly, those who wash dishes and utensils do not produce as much garbage for the city as Jollibee, McDonalds or KFC and the like.
Thus it will not be fair to charge Mario’s restaurant, for example, the same rate as Jollibee’s, that uber-popular Filipino fast food joint that insists on giving its customers one plastic bag per item that one buys (e.g. one for each softdrink, for the fries, for the buger — um, why does a plastic cup with cover have to be bagged. and why can’t the fries be in the same bag as the burger, both of which have paper containers anyway).
I figured to write about this because, since the city council is preparing to amend the fees, they might as well refine the laws further.
2. Also, hospitals should get charged higher because medical waste cannot be hauled off to Tarlac and are harder to dispose of. And don’t tell me that this proposal of mine won’t do because the hospitals will just pass the fees off to the poor patients. It’s not like the garbage collection fees will make a dent on the hospitals’ income because, correct me if I’m wrong, they are earning pretty well just from all the fees paid by the hordes of nursing students that the Baguio schools have for their practical training.
We just...
Nice re-design, Lisa.
Thanks, Connie.
Needs lots more work though, but am getting the hang of it!!! Owe you 5 articles… coming!
Hi Lisa,
First time here… I agree with the high garbage fees to instill discipline to the people in disposing their garbage. And the officials should be strict in implementing the policy to achieve positive outcome.
Welcome, Michelle, and thanks for your comment.
Lisa, kinda complicated. I’m paying 249 pesos annual for garbage fee. Really don’t mind a reasonable increase though. On the other hand, this dumpsite problem has been around for almost a year now and no solution still. Does it really take this long to solve it?
Hi Lisa!
Is the rate on an annual basis or on a per pick-up basis? Maybe the idea here is to instill discipline. The more you throw the more you have to pay!
Hi Resty, maybe that rate because you have a dormitory business? Honestly Php249 per year comes out to only a little over Php20/week or Php10/pickup. Of course it costs more than that to dispose of the waste.
Actually I used to pay thousands (sewage, garbage, etc.) in city services per business, nothing like the Php100 for garbage collection that the news account says the rate used to be per building, but I was never charged for my residence, so I don’t know how this will go. It would be good to have everyone pay at the barangay, so that maybe we can use this also to survey exactly how many people are living in Baguio City.
Hi Edgar, I believe this is on an annual basis. I really agree that we should be charged by volume of garbage, not by doorway.
i agree with the garbage fee increase and that it should be collected by the barangay. that way, they manage their own waste.
any incentives for those who go organic?
Hi Marie,
They’re having a hard time managing the waste as it is, so I don’t see them figuring out who’s going organic or not
Honestly, I really want to see if the city will be collecting fees from homeowners.
On the overall, considering that at that level and this stage in time, the City meaning the government, the private sector which includes the institutions, have hardly reached a level of strong realization-agreement that – yes it is high time to re-assess our city situation and priorities based on the developments in the effort to understand Global Warming, (otherwise by now the call to review the City Charter in the context of the new realizations in local and global environmental and political-economic research, would be the talk of the town), – yes this effort to “raise the cost” of public utilities is to me a good start for a “healthy dialogue”. To take it as an oppurtunity to share information with as many neighbors on the many developments to achieve more practical ways and means to attend to the needs of the individual and the community within the city and the surrounding communities,- all of which impact on each other and if not considered, will only hamper each others being able to achieve a better degree of local and overall development which is the need. Yes even to just start with the discussion of the item of raising the cost of garbage collection.
Only last week, I read a piece from the Christian Science Monitor World News, of developments in Garbage collection in Japan, where segregation has had been a long practice, and yes it was to further refine the segregation and collection system to raise the level of returns from the recycling process. Its like raise our capital investment to achieve greater returns. They even used an interesting term- “urban mining”, basically recovery of the minerals and other industrial materials-chemicals and substances found in garbage to be recycled back to manufacturing without having to increase demand from the old more destructive raw-resource-extraction mining sector. And so lessening CO2 production on the overall. The cost there was the households added more time to segregate their garbage. That is what is practical in Japan, where one will find the majority of people, even now that they have acieved developed country living standards still say we are poor, but our country is the 2nd richest in the world. So it is just finding an appropriate adoption to our Philippine condition, or Baguio to be specific. We have many small garbage entrepreneurs, who do not ask for hand outs, just respect and proper recognition of their services. They have been sorting the city garbage long before it became a city conversation- not even talking of discipline, (but which is better if it is always part of the effort and conversation), I guess this is where the support is long over due. Notice it is just a change of approach of paradigm. And that is not to be biased to just the Top-to bottom or to the Bottom-up approach but to in all times look for the balance that is appropriate for the situation and to use it to achieve the better good.
So the millions being spent on the Top-to bottom approaches so far, which sounds more like patronage to business partners, will if diverted to this hard working and more voter rich sector, (if thinking like a politician), will have greater social as well as economic and cultural impact. As the down stream impact also offers much, as this new sector is offered oppurtunity, children health and children in school increase, also the other city sectors as the garbage issue gets more settled, and the buying power of this beneficiaries rises and impacts on local business, while still attracting more tourists and even adding a new tourist attraction. Easier said than done, if one thinks it can be done over-night. No it is not over-night it will take time, but it has to be done. It took 2 terms to unseat Mr. Bush and get the Kyoto protocol to be noticed by the US-Federal government. But it was done plus the bonus of a promising new US president elect. So yes we just have to be patient and do our homework.
Yes, more power to your blog lisa. Keep the conversation going and keep romping up your approach. Thank you and to a Peaceful New Year, God Bless.
Hi Andrew,
I completely agree with:
“So the millions being spent on the Top-to bottom approaches so far, which sounds more like patronage to business partners, will if diverted to this hard working and more voter rich sector, (if thinking like a politician), will have greater social as well as economic and cultural impact.”
I don’t think our politicians feel it is in THEIR best interests to empower the people… they’re not statesmen, you see. So short-sighted, so selfish, so greedy, they behave as if they do not have children for whom they should secure a wonderful life.
“So yes we just have to be patient and do our homework.”
so how is the garbage situation now? is it better? cause i saw lots of pics in the internet and it was awful. i go to baguio yearly and i will be up there on the 23rd this month. just want to know the real situation so as to know which place to avoid. thanks
Hey Andrew,
I apologize for the city’s mismanagement of the garbage. Baguio is clean now, as it usually is. And the reason I did not publish photos of garbage is precisely because I did not want folks to have images of the city of uncollected trash, which was only a temporary situation (and should never happen again).
I can understand, though, those who did publish those photos because we were made to live in squalor for a time and that was UNACCEPTABLE!
good good good
keep up the good work ma’am. Baguio needs more people like you. kudos for the sctex feature very informative.
Thanks Andrew
Now i finally found somebody i can share my views concerning Baguio’s garbage problem. I recently got involved, in my own small way, as a student of SLU regarding Baguio’s perenial problem on garbage. Its been almost 8 months since Baguio had that calamity regarding uncollected garbage. The city somewhat found a solution by draining city funds to have an alternative way of dealing with this social problem. Hauling Baguio’s garbage down to Capas Tarlac proved to be an effective way of dealing with it, at the expense of Baguio’s taxpayers. However, it is an absurd solution to an unending production of waste that needs to have a better solution. We have 18 clusters of barangays formed primarily to combat this unending problem. What happened to this cause? I wonder what Mayor Bautista and the rest of our honorable men and women at city hall is up to. Why can’t they just simply apply the essence of Republic Act 9003, the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. The solution is there, it just needs fangs to bite on those who oppose and disregard this absolute solution to our solid waste problem. Full implementation of the law and proper governance, and the balls to do it!!!, is the key to this problem, not increasing garbage taxes. We are at a current global crisis, and Baguio is no exemption. Draining the City’s funds that can be used for other important matters such as fixing roads and rehabilitating parks for Baguio’s tourism should be considered.
The City government should try looking into estabishing a recycling plant that will cater not only to Baguio’s garabage but to the entrie CAR region. Coordinate with municipalities which have a wide land area in establishing a recycling plant where garbage could be recycled, reuse and resold. Baguio should inititate. It’s hard to start up something that seems to be imposibble. But with the increasing population of Baguio, our honorable men and women at city hall should start thinking of a long term plan that can subdue the impending threat of another calamity brought about by garbage in this paradise city we have been born at.
from summer capital to cleanest greenest to wag wag capital to garbage capital of the philippines. they are doing it again, they are not collecting garbage again and the streets are full of garbage yet again.
i say mayor bautista get the garbage or resign. i think he is the most inept mayor we have ever had. he starts a fire prevention month and vwhola we have three major fires, now this garbage problem has never ended in fact they are doing it again.
i announce that i the master blaster will start a city wide campaign and make posters and flyers and egg the people to file a class suite against the city and ask for the resignation of mayor peter bautista. mayor bautista= mayor basura
Hi Renie and Master Blaster,
I honestly think that this set of leaders we have are collectively the dirtiest — literally. A clean city is evidence of good governance, a dirty city is evidence of bad governance.
It’s as simple as that.
Did you notice that Baguio is made dirtiest when there are tourists? Don’t you think this has to do with Mayor Bautista’s unilateral declaration of a paradigm shift AWAY from tourism TOWARDS “education” — where he is planning to spend the city’s monies to support the schools, one of which he owns?
I believe this is a problem DELIBERATELY created by the powers that be (we residents are doing our part — reducing, segregating, composting — the city just REFUSES to collect our garbage.
yes, for a problem that’s been around for over a year with no solution in sight, maybe the mayor should resign and let someone more competent tackle the problem.
Hi Lisa!
Baguio City was declared a calamity area last July 2008 due to people’s inconsiderate garbage mishandling and the local government’s garbage mismanagement. Baguio City’s image as the cleanest and greenest City in the Philippines have been tainted due to this social malaise. Almost 9 months have passed and yet the City government of Baguio is not acting that fast, not realizing the impending threat this problem might contribute to the city’s status as the Summer Capital of the Philippines.
Lisa’s Note: This comment is so full of information and suggestions, and thus pretty lengthy, so I published it in toto in a new post Solving the Garbage Problem
Thanks Renie,
For your suggestions. Tried to contact you via email but it bounced back. I published you comment in full in the latest post so folks can appreciate it better.
