Inayawan transfer station

The Cebu City Council is set to hold a public hearing next month on City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr.’s proposal to set up a one-hectare transfer station at the old Inayawan dumpsite. It’s an interesting proposal that was rejected by the rules and laws committee chaired by City Councilor Raymond Garcia. Gabuya is with the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) while Garcia is with Team Rama.

In a report to the city council, the committee said the proposal would contradict the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that barred the City from dumping trash at the old dump site, which is subject for rehabilitation. Gabuya insisted that, technically, a transfer station is not a dump site. He said the garbage would be transferred from truck to truck, meaning the trash would be out in 24 hours.

But the bigger question there is not legality but motivation. Mayor Tomas Osmeña had said that by having its own garbage transfer station, the City will save money considering that it is currently paying for the use of a private transfer station, also in Inayawan. But there are those who feel that this could be Osmeña’s way to get around the CA’s order to close the Inayawan dumpsite.

The insistence of the Osmeña administration to dump the city’s trash in Inayawan, and later at the South Road Properties (SRP), not only became a legal but also an emotional issue. It was linked by some sectors to Osmeña’s effort to pressure Filinvest Land Inc. and the joint venture of Ayala Land Inc. and SM Prime Holdings to give up the SRP lots that they bought when Michael Rama was the mayor.

And while a transfer station is not a dumpsite, the activity there, like the ingress and egress of trucks that carry the city’s trash to the area is almost like the site is still being used as a garbage dump. The same inconvenience that the residents of Inayawan endured for years would resurface.

Perhaps the better option is to look for a site that would be developed as the city’s garbage transfer station other than Inayawan. As for the old dumpsite, the Cebu City Government should proceed with its full rehabilitation.