THE collection of garbage in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City has been a problem in the past few months.Barangay Captain Michael Gacasan, in an interview on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, said they have been struggling to implement a regular garbage collection schedule since the barangay does not have enough trucks to cater to around 30,000 households in their jurisdiction.There are five trucks—two of which are new and delivered just last week—collecting trash in the interior parts of Guadalupe, the most populous barangay in the city. Collecting waste along the city’s major thoroughfares is the role of the Department of Public Services.A female resident reported to SunStar Cebu on Saturday, Sept. 10, that the garbage in her area has not been collected for three weeks already.Christine, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they’ve complained about the problem, but they always receive the same response—the barangay does not have enough garbage trucks or, sometimes, one of the trucks is broken.‘Bribe-taking’ collectorsShe also alleged that some garbage collectors would pick up the waste of households who gave them money, which they called “buhay-buhay” in layman’s terms.“They (barangay officials) are aware of the practice of [some] garbage collectors who go to specific houses that give [them] money,” said Christine.Due to the sporadic garbage collection, Christine said people have resorted to dumping their garbage on the streets.Gacasan said the alleged “buhay-buhay” scheme could be possibly due to the low salaries of garbage collectors. He assured that he will investigate Christine’s concerns and he will impose sanctions if the allegations are proven true.Far dump siteThe other problem that Gacasan mentioned was that the dumping site in Barangay Binaliw is far compared to the former landfill in Barangay Inayawan. The distance, he said, has resulted to fewer trips. Also, the barangay’s trucks are small.According to Gacasan, the barangay has already procured four additional trucks to address the issue. The first two trucks were already delivered last week, while the remaining units will arrive next week.The village chief assured his constituents that there will be an improvement in the schedule of garbage collection with the arrival of the additional trucks.In the past months, Gacasan said they only had two trucks to service the barangay with a population of 80,000 residents.“Naka-accommodate nami hinayhinay sa tanang areas kay lima na ka trucks ang nagdagan, not like before nga duha ra (We have slowly accommodated all the areas because we have five trucks up ang running, not like before when there were only two),” he said.Gacasan’s complaintsGacasan complained that garbage trucks owned by the City Government would only collect garbage along the main roads and it is now the barangay’s role to collect mounds of garbage in the interior portion of their community.His other complaint is that some people who are not residents of the barangay dump their garbage along the streets of Guadalupe, complicating the sanitary issue of the barangay.Gacasan urged the City Government to pass a stricter ordinance that will penalize people who dump their garbage anywhere.“Magtinabangay lang gyud ta aning problema sa basura kay atoa man ning problema tanan ug mahimo ma-minimize pud sa mga residente ang ilang mga basura (Let us work together in solving this garbage problem because it’s our problem and, if possible, residents will also find ways to minimize their waste),” Gacasan said.