IF one were to conjure the worst possible city leadership in Cagayan de Oro’s 75 years of cityhood, one would not dare to imagine something as bleak as what the Uy administration is delivering.
But alas, we are not in the realm of satire: under Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy, the city has spiraled into a disastrous mélange of chaos, neglect, and misgovernance.
Residents are enduring uncollected garbage, public health emergencies, creeping lawlessness, and quaking infrastructure — and all while the mayor micromanages trivialities.
Let’s start with what any functioning city government should prioritize: trash collection.
Under Uy’s watch, waste management has reverted to the level of grotesque neglect.
A recent report of this paper points out that “the city’s waste system buckles amid contractor change, landfill violations, weak enforcement,” with trucks too big to enter narrow neighborhoods, and massive piles of trash clogging thoroughfares.
In September 2025 alone, more than 600 cases of acute gastroenteritis were traced to accumulating refuse; health officials even activated an incident command system.
While the city contracted Standard Systems to collect garbage and pledged to “clear the city within three days,” complaints of missed pick-ups, overflowing drop points, and route mismatches persisted.
The city council has even proposed imposing stricter penalties on errant collectors and holding barangays accountable — a confession in itself that the executive neglects core duties.
This is not “transition pain.”
This is incompetence laid bare.
For a city that lies within seismic zones and periodically faces tremors, disaster preparedness should be nonnegotiable.
Yet under Uy, even the basics are missing.
We’ve heard rumblings — literal ones — of uncoordinated relief operations and a lack of strategic infrastructure reinforcement.In city announcements, relief dispatches from Cagayan de Oro to quake victims elsewhere are celebrated, but scant attention is given to the city’s own vulnerabilities.
Meanwhile, the term “kalibanga” (a colloquialism for “diarrhea/intestinal distress”) has become a running metaphor for the city’s malaise — a symptom of unsafe water, garbage accumulation, and public health breakdowns.
That these unsanitary conditions persist is not an anecdote; it is proof of utter failure.
When citizens can’t walk their streets in peace, you know governance has collapsed.
The very invocation of targeted violence in urban settings is a red flag. When people fear for their lives, we should demand more than slogans and mediated press days; we need transparency, strong policing, and the courage to admit when the system has failed its people.
If Klarex were serious about public safety, he’d bolster law enforcement, demand accountability, and quash rumors of vigilante or political hits. Instead, the silence is deafening.
One of Uy’s hallmarks — if “hallmark” is not too generous a word — has been an overbearing, petty oversight of city hall’s minutiae while the big picture burns.
According to discussions in online forums, city hall employees claim that Uy’s administration mandates wearing Filipiniana and Asean attire every Monday — without ever releasing a clothing allowance.
Failure to comply allegedly invites administrative penalties. City Hall is also reportedly issuing patterned cash advances that raise red flags about vote-buying or budget misuse.
Critics have noted that while Uy micromanages appearances, he has zero oversight over contractors who fail at essential services.
Micromanaging dress codes while letting garbage fester — that’s not leadership.
That's a distraction.
On water and utilities, the Uy administration has repeatedly courted conflict.
In a contentious standoff, the City Council condemned the Local Water Utilities Administration for “grave abuse of authority” in interfering with Cagayan de Oro Water District governance — implicitly questioning Uy’s control.
This is governance by brawl, not by plan.
It’s not “taking charge” — it’s mud wrestling over control.
Cagayan de Oro deserves an executive who builds instead of breaks; who protects instead of neglects; who trusts institutions rather than compensates with petty diktats.
Under Uy:
• Garbage chokes the city.
• Disease lurks in the streets.Safety is a shadow.
• Water and utilities are battlegrounds.
• City hall staff are regulated by dress code, not vision.
If Klarex doesn’t reverse course — and fast — his name will be remembered not for leadership, but for the time when the “City of Golden Friendship” sank beneath its own stench.
The people are watching. The leaks are visible. And in five years, history will demand accountability.
