BAGUIO CITY — The personal and political differences of city officials is now taking its toll on the people as another garbage crisis is looming in this mountain resort city because of the continuous failure of the local legislative body to appropriate the required amount to sustain the hauling of garbage to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac.

The 300 tons of garbage in the city will no longer be collected by the city government because the funds which were earlier allocated for the hauling of garbage outside the city has already been exhausted, thus, the need for a new allocation to sustain the expensive endeavor preferred by the local government.

In rejecting the city mayor’s request for the appropriation of another P26 million to sustain the hauling of garbage outside the city until the end of this year, the city council expressed their disappointment over the mediocre performance of concerned city departments in handling the city’s solid waste problem after it failed to comply with its commitment to improve the dilapidated retaining wall of the Irisan open dumpsite.

Worst, the city environment management office (CEMO), the department taking charge of the city’s solid waste program, did not comply with its earlier commitment to collect the garbage in the city’s 128 barangays which continue to pile up in major streets posing a serious threat to the health of the residents and the state of the city’s environment.

Vice Mayor Daniel T. Fariñas expressed disappointment over the council’s refusal to approve the P26-million appropriation to sustain the hauling of garbage to Tarlac, saying it is unfair to Baguio folk that the council is denying the fund request while it can’t come out with alternatives to solve the city garbage woes.

As a consequence of the council’s refusal to allocate funds for the hauling of garbage, Fariñas said garbage will again pile up along the city’s major roads which will put the city’s image into a bad light.

To ensure the continuous funding for the hauling of garbage outside the city, Mayor Reinaldo A. Bautista Jr. ordered all the 25 city departments to implement a 20 percent cut on their respective maintenance and other operating expenses for the current year and their respective budgets next year so that there will be available funds which could be maximized for the city’s solid waste programs.