The City Council has recalled a recently passed ordinance that would have amended the 2017 Revenue Code by slashing one peso off the garbage tipping fee.
Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, speaking during Tuesday’s regular session at the Sangguniang Panlungsod, moved for the recall of the item.
The finance chair told the City Council that the Executive Branch requested for an opportunity to collect and present data about the effects of the reduction of the garbage tipping fee to the city’s economy should the P2 per kilo amendment be implemented.
Dayanghirang banked on an internal house rule that allowed the City Council to recall any measure, as long as it was not yet transmitted to City Hall.
The Council passed on final reading early this month the measure to reduce to P2 the current P3 per kilo tipping fee after it underwent hearings conducted by Dayanghirang’s committee on finance, ways and means, and appropriations.
A tipping fee is a fee paid by anyone who disposes waste in a landfill.
A group of private trash haulers and recyclers, complaining on the current P3 tipping fee, requested the city council to reduce the rate to P1.
According to Andre Bucu of ABB Scrap Green Solutions, the P3 per kilo tipping fee pursuant to the said Revised Revenue Code of 2017 is “too high and maintaining such would be unsustainable for our operations.”
Another group composed of Pascaul Trangia, Norbel Aguilles, Jimmy Galve and Arnel Gorre, in the letter, said they are not only engaged in business but are also “helping the city save time, fuel cost, manpower, trucking, and maintenance cost.”
The groups proposed to have the tipping fee at P1 per kilo or to have a monthly service charge at P10,000.
However, the committee approved the P2 tipping fee to meet half-way for the benefit of the small trash haulers and the local government.
The private trash haulers were commissioned by the city government to collect the trash from private subdivisions, shopping malls, and other commercial establishments. (with reports from Julianne Suarez)
