Bacolod City Mayor Pushes Traffic Fix, Denies Witch Hunt

 

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Greg Gasataya denied conducting a witch hunt regarding the removal of former Bacolod Environment and Natural Resources Office (BENRO) officer-in-charge Ma. Fe Trespuentes.

Trespuentes, appointed by former Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez, was among the first officials replaced during the opening week of Gasataya’s administration.

In his first press conference Monday, Gasataya said he appointed Assistant City Administrator Atty. Allyn Luv Dignadice as BENRO’s temporary head.

“The reason is simple—we need to monitor the private garbage contractor’s performance,” he said.

He added that the move was consistent with his inaugural promise to ensure contract compliance by the city’s waste hauler.

“To speed up the process and verify if they’re complying, I asked Atty. Dignadice to serve as BENRO OIC,” Gasataya said.

The city currently pays PHP25 million to PHP27 million a month to IPM Construction and Development Corp. under a weight-based collection contract.

IPM was the lone bidder in the PHP304-million project to collect, haul and dispose of Bacolod’s garbage.

Asked if he would replace the contractor once the contract expires, Gasataya said, “They should shape up. We’ll give them the opportunity to improve.”

He stressed, “I am not witch-hunting. I’m responding to public clamor about garbage collection.”

“This is nothing personal. What matters is that services meet the people’s expectations,” he said.

Gasataya said residents continue to raise concerns over collection schedules.

“Once the schedule is set, the contractor should strictly follow what they signed in their contract,” he said.

On traffic problems, Gasataya said the city is looking at long-term solutions, including traffic light upgrades.

“Since Monday at 12:01 a.m., the traffic lights at Lopue’s East, La Salle and Rizal intersections are now working,” he said.

He said the city temporarily reprogrammed the lights to restore functionality.

Technicians familiar with the old system got the lights working again, despite earlier issues with the lack of a yellow signal.

“They’re operational now, but it’s only a stopgap until we can replace them with new units,” he said.

Of the 11 intersections with traffic lights, five are beyond repair due to damaged controller units and wiring, he added.

The city is still working on restoring two more intersections.

Gasataya said he asked the City Engineer’s Office and the Traffic Division to start identifying areas that need new traffic signals.

“The city has a budget for this,” he added.

On hiring more traffic enforcers, Gasataya said it depends on the budget.

“We cannot hire more than what the current budget allows,” he said.

As of Monday, 170 job order workers had been hired, down from 260 under the previous administration.

“We base hiring on performance – we ask, observe and assess,” he said.

Some contracts ended June 30 and were not renewed.

“We didn’t dismiss anyone – those whose contracts ended were simply not rehired,” Gasataya said.