Garbage in, garbage out

IF irony had a landfill, Cagayan de Oro’s new garbage contractor, Standard Systems, would have just dumped the first load.

On its grand debut as the city’s newest waste management savior, Standard Systems managed to prove that trash collection is, indeed, an art — an abstract one. 

Within 24 hours, its shiny new fleet was already making headlines: one truck crashed, another couldn’t fit through the city’s narrow streets, and a third — the star of the show — reportedly lacked an OR-CR. Because what better way to haul garbage than with an unregistered vehicle?

This, of course, from the same administration that promised a “qualified service provider to collect, haul, and dispose of municipal solid waste and perform street sweeping across all 80 barangays,” as the Bids and Awards Committee proudly stated. 

The City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office even assured us that “this contract seeks to maintain the city’s cleanliness, safeguard public health, and minimize environmental hazards.”

Maybe they meant emotional hazards, because residents are certainly feeling trash trauma now.

The Terms of Reference (TOR) also required that “all trucks must have LTO registration, GPS, warning devices, sound systems, and proper markings.” 

It’s hard to miss the poetry there — a registered truck requirement for a contractor whose truck can’t even pass an LTO checkpoint. 

Perhaps the missing registration is part of a “minimalist” compliance strategy.

Then there’s the matter of those 10-wheeler dump trucks. According to the TOR, Standard Systems must field “20 units of 10-wheeler dump trucks (22 cubic meters)” to serve the city. 

A noble idea, if Kagay-an’s inner barangays weren’t built like a maze for matchbox cars. Watching a 10-wheeler attempt a U-turn in Macasandig or Lapasan is like watching a whale try to swim in a kiddie pool — majestic, but tragic.

And the pièce de résistance? The accidents. Multiple, on day one. Because nothing says “operational readiness” like trash trucks colliding with parked cars before they even reach the dump. You can almost hear the city’s P90-million project budget whisper, “I told you so.”

Still, let’s be fair. Maybe it’s all part of the plan — a high-stakes performance art piece titled “The Hauling of Accountability.” 

After all, the TOR warns that “violations such as missed collection schedules, uncovered trucks, or unclean vehicles incur P5,000 per day per violation.” 

By that measure, the city might finally earn something back from this contract — in penalties.

Meanwhile, Kagay-anons, who were promised “daily garbage collection and street sweeping citywide” and a minimum of “315 tons per day” of trash cleared, now find themselves tiptoeing around plastic mountains, wondering if they should just rent their own tricabs to finish the job.

Kagay-an didn’t want much — just clean streets and working trucks. What it got instead was a crash course in how not to run a waste management system. 

But hey, at least the garbage isn’t lonely. 

It’s got plenty of company now — bureaucracy, incompetence, and a few dented parked cars.

Because here in the City of Golden Friendship, even the trash gets a warm welcome.

Flygate Kagay-anons

CAGAYAN de Oro has lately found itself riding a wave of stomach-related illnesses sloshing through urban neighborhoods.

🎶 Whoo…hoy! Ayaw pagbalod. 🎶

A mass movement unlike the one the city saw last Sunday — this time of the bowel variety.

In other words, business as usual in a country where diarrhea is still treated less like a public health failure and more like a natural disaster.

The fascinating bit isn’t the outbreak itself, but the collective yawn outside Northern Mindanao. Even social media — that great amplifier of idiotic outrage — has barely burped.

If this were happening in NCR or Baguio, you’d expect hourly updates, DOH briefings with infographics, maybe even a temporary water-rationing scandal. At the very least, a “WALANG PASOK” banner on Facebook daily.

But because it’s “just” Cagayan de Oro…

🎶 Krik…krik…krik 🎶

Same old story: disasters in Mindanao are tragedies only to Mindanaoans. 

A cholera scare in BGC would be a national emergency; in Kagay-an it’s a quirky footnote, filed between #sanaolCarmen and a multi-million boulevard closed to traffic.

That shrug should worry everyone. 

Waterborne diseases don’t check plane or bus tickets before traveling. Today it’s Kagay-an; tomorrow, your city’s tap.

Still, as long as the problem stays “down south,” the rest of the archipelago acts immune.

Enough self-pity. We are, after all, the e-gateway to Northern Mindanao [pun intended]. We are the new ‘flygates.’

Here’s a modern civic trick: people get sick, officials point at “contaminated water,” and then perform the ritual dance — tests, press releases, reassurances.

Right now, the City Health Office has sent samples to DOH-10, restaurants have quietly stopped serving free water and ice, and everyone is waiting to see what’s what.

But if you want to know why your stomach is playing percussion, just step outside: look at the sidewalks, the Cagayan River, and the perennially flooded highway in the ironically named Barangay Kauswagan.

For months, residents have posted photos of uncollected garbage while officials wrestle with a contractor that can’t (or won’t) collect on schedule. The city council is even mulling giving every barangay its own garbage truck because the current system is collapsing.

And here’s why that matters: garbage isn’t just ugly, it’s a five-star hotel for bacteria, flies, and rats. It clogs drains. It floats. It seeps into shallow wells and roof tanks.

Then the rains come — during the “ber months” — and all that trash turns into a mobile contamination unit, delivered by floodwater straight into where we keep our drinking water.

That’s not speculation; that’s human behavior plus government neglect.

We’ve already seen flash floods this year that stranded people and swept away cars. Combine that with months of festering trash and you’ve got a recipe: pathogens hitch a ride on floodwater into homes and cisterns.

People drink, get sick. The Cagayan de Oro Water District insists its supply is safe. Restaurants stop serving tap. The health office wipes its hands.

Yes, COWD says its pipelines tested negative. But that doesn’t answer the tank-in-your-yard question, nor does it stop restaurants and households from treating tap water like poison.

That’s the uncomfortable theater: a clean central supply can still be sabotaged by roof tanks caked with bird poop or by streets so jammed with garbage they turn into septic rivers with every downpour.

Complaints about garbage aren’t just about bad selfies — they’re the city’s early warning system for the next health crisis.

So what should happen, besides the obligatory press conferences and “we’re investigating” FB posts?

Start with the obvious and unsexy: enforce collection schedules. Audit and, if necessary, fire useless contractors.

Oh wait — we didn’t even bid out a new contract until the old one expired. Only then did the city scramble for a new schmuck.

Meanwhile, inspect restaurants and building tanks. If they’re testing positive, fix them — instead of wedding old couples in the hinterlands.

Yes, people will bitch and moan about budget lines and tender processes. But the alternative is getting used to waves of gastrointestinal misery.

So to the water district, city hall, and contractor: congratulations! #wootwoot 

You’ve cleared stage one of this civic drama — denial and testing. 

The hard part is stage two: accountability and action.

If Cagayan de Oro really wants to live up to its “City of Golden Friendship” brand, maybe start by making sure visitors aren’t greeted by floating trash.

And if you’re a resident with a roof tank: for the love of chlorine, clean it. 

Kagay-an can’t save you if you’re swimming in last month’s garbage and calling it “communal compost.”

The ber months are coming. They don’t care who’s in charge. Pfft