Cebu City Contract with Private Landfill in Consolacion “Highly Questionable”- COA

The Commission on Audit (COA) had found out that the P25.1 million contract entered into by the City of Cebu and a private landfill in Consolacion for the disposal of 36,399 tons of solid wastes is highly questionable because it was awarded without public bidding.

The state auditors had recommended that the Cebu City government, under Mayor Michael Rama, should explain the basis of awarding the solid waste disposal services thru direct contracting, which is contrary to the provisions provided for under Section 50 of the Procurement Act.

At least 300 tons of solid wastes from Cebu City are being brought and dumped in a private landfill in Barangay Polog, Consolacion everyday after Mayor Rama ordered the closure of the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill upon the order of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The city had entered a contract with Asian Energy Systems Corporation without public bidding based on the recommendation of the Bids and Awards Committee. The city is paying P700 per ton of garbage that being dumped in a private landfill in Consolacion.

COA explained that the law allows only direct contracting scheme or single source procurement of “goods that does not require elaborate public bidding documents.”

“With the awarding of direct contracting to Asian Energy Systems Corporation, other qualified and licensed landfill operators were deprived from participating in the bidding process, thus the governing principle of transparency and competitiveness have not been achieved,” COA said.

But the city officials explained that the reason why they had decided to enter a direct contracting with Asian Energy Systems Corporation is that it is the only landfill facility that can accommodate any kind of segregated and unsegregated wastes up to 500 tons or more everyday.

The city also contracted Bio Nutrient Waste Management based in Barangay Inayawan because “it is also the only facility that does composting and only accepts waste vegetables from the Carbon Market and has the capacity of only 30 to 40 tons daily.”

However, the state auditors maintains its stand that there are still other landfill operators available that can offer the same service on the disposal of solid waste regardless of the method used.