Carabao City lowers garbage fee to draw more LGUs

URDANETA CITY – To attract more clients, the mayor of this burgeoning city in Region-1 has lowered the tipping fee of its vaunted sanitary landfill. The strategy is to draw more local government units in and out of the region to patronize it. Mayor Amadeo Perez IV said that he decreased the fee per ton of segregated rubbish from P2,200 to P900 so it could attract more towns and cities to avail the land fill located at Sitio Caegu, Barangay Catablan here. This city has yet to reach the projected annual income the landfill can generate to the coffer after the administration of former mayor Amadito Perez Jr., the father of the incumbent hizzoner, borrowed a P220 Million loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines in 2010.
 He said there were feelers from Baguio City who want to intercede for the city to avail the service of the landfill. Perez explained that he was privy of the intention but until now he is to receive a formal proposal from the City of Pines. “That is the time I am going to peruse the application,” he stressed. Presently, only the towns of Sta. Barbara, Mapandan, Alcala, Bautista , and Pozzurobio have availed the sanitary service of the city. The land fill here was created in conjunction with Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act that prohibits open dumpsites in all local government units all over the country. The law mandates that all thrash will be segregated and its residuals will be dumped for at the landfilld. Meanwhile, with a more than P700 million annual appropriation this year, this city has eclipsed older cities Dagupan and San Carlos and is now virtually miles away from Pangasinan’s youngest city, Alaminos.
A political spectator here who asked anonymity said that other city executives in Pangasinan and Region 1 acknowledged that they have a lot to catch up with the progress this city chalked up under the stewardship of Mayor Perez IV. This happened after he blasted them in virtually all aspects of development, not only financially but also in urban development and environmental sanitation. “Seguro, political will,” Perez quipped when asked about his secrets in managing this entrepot city famously known for its cattle industry in Northern Luzon. (MCO).