Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda and Fourth District Board Member Nestor Tolentino lead the distribution of relief goods to residents of Barangay Castuli, Macabebe on Wednesday. At least 12 villages in the town are still affected by floods. Photo by Ric Gonzales
MACABEBE, Pampanga – Gov. Lilia Pineda proposed yesterday the collection of a P2 garbage fee per household in this province amid her proposal for the construction of a regional sanitary landfill to finally solve Central Luzon’s worsening waste woes.
“Two pesos is just a little amount, I’m sure every household can afford it,” said Pineda who asked local government units to back her proposal by passing ordinances on it.
She said that as a measure against anomalies, “the money collected from every household will be deposited with the barangay account and only the designated signatories will be allowed to withdraw such amount.”
She said the provincial government is allocating a yearly budget of some P220 million pesos for payment of tipping fee and haulers of garbage to Metro Clark Sewerage and Landfill Corporation in Barangay Kalangitan, Capas Tarlac.
Pineda noted that funds spent for this has been depriving her constituents of funds that should otherwise be directly used for health, education and livelihood projects for local folk.
“It’s high time that we asked every household of their share so that the yearly funding for the garbage disposal could be diverted for the basic service to the people of Pampanga,” Pineda added.
She also said she has asked the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to file a resolution on the two-peso garbage fee.
Pampanga has more than 293,800 households, enough to cover the yearly garbage disposal budget allocation of the provincial government.
Pineda said the provincial government will not only solve the garbage problem, flooding problem but also address the basic needs of less fortunate province mates using the P220 million annual budgetary requirements for garbage disposal fees.
The governor earlier said she would meet with other governors of Central Luzon to discuss her proposal for the construction of a common regional sanitary landfill, saying this would eventually lead to significant savings.
She made the proposal after having noted that flooding in her province was caused also by garbage blocking water channels towards the Manila Bay.
Pineda visited yesterday this town where she led the distribution of grocery items to 2,300 families in still flooded Barangays Castuli, San Jose, Sta Maria, Sto. Niño, San Rique, Batasan Dike, San Gabriel, Nabong, Mangga, Mataguiti, Saplad Gaspan and Saplad Pilapil.
