AS Cagayan de Oro is confronted with a garbage mess, the coastal barangay of Bonbon has responded to the challenge by acting in a small yet effective way: getting rid of the scattered stinking wastes around.
Instead of cursing, Bonbon residents ― led by the Barangay Council and its chairwoman Lelit Baal-Molina ― went to the streets on Thursday morning, January 23, armed with brooms, empty sacks, and anything to place the still uncollected trash orderly and in a proper way.
“Dili na kita maghulat nga moabot ang garbage truck. While waiting, atong iplastar ang mga basura nga nagkatag sulod sa mga sako aron masayon na kanila ang pagkolekta,” Molina told her local constituents, who endured the stinking piles of trash even laced with rotten cat and human waste.
At this juncture, the village chair who just celebrated her 44th birthday turned red and ranted: “Grabi ka mga bastos ang ga labog sa basura. Kay pati tae sa tao nga isa ka sako gilabog lang sa dalan.”
To this, the youthful Barangay Kagawad Irvin Paul Paasa agreed that discipline is crucial in addressing the city's garbage problem.
He pointed out that waste is not properly segregated. Even in places along the highway declared' collection areas’ only for trash piles, some erring individuals would still unabashedly throw garbage on them.
“Klaro kaayo ang signage nga Lunes ug Huwebes ra ang disposal sa residual, unya Dominggo ug Miyerkules ang recyclable pero kana nga schedules dili man gyod matuman,” said fellow Kagawad Jerome Sambaan, even as he noticed that some of the assigned garbage trucks from the city are not also consistent with the schedules in picking up the garbage.
Molina told Gold Star Daily that the clean-up activities were in line with Mayor Rolando Uy’s call for them, the leaders from the 80 barangays in the city, Clenro, DILG, and Tencil to help in finding solutions for the garbage mess that aggravated after the celebration of the yuletide season.
