BAGUIO CITY - At least P20 million was recently set aside by the city government here to purchase five brand-new garbage trucks from South Korea which will be used to improve the city's garbage collection and disposal following the non-operation of the five second-hand trucks that were bought by the local government during the previous administration. Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the garbage trucks to be supplied by Daewoo Corporation will be compliant to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act since their dump will be divided into two compartments to cater to the biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes from the city's 128 villages. Under the equipment purchase agreement, each garbage truck would cost P3.9 million that includes the cost of the truck, the supply of its spare parts for the next three years, customs duties and taxes, insurance, and their delivery to this mountain resort city.
According to Domogan, the city government will have the right to reject the delivered trucks once they will not be able to pass the inspection by the city's technical personnel pursuant to the specifications prescribed in the agreement. The garbage trucks from the direct supplier will be delivered to the city within the next three months in order to augment the existing garbage trucks of the local government to collect and appropriately dispose the increasing volume of garbage brought about by the rapid population growth.
Domogan explained that he prefers importation of the trucks rather than risk buying secondhand ones since the latter will be simply reconditioned without any guarantee when the same will be destroyed like what happened to the multi-million-peso purchase of secondhand garbage trucks by the previous administration. (Dexter A. See)
