• CHERYL G. CRUZ
The IPM Construction and Development Corp. has been asked by the Sangguniang Panlungsod to immediately turn over the 20 three-wheeled motorized garbage collection equipment, in compliance with its contractual obligation to the City of Bacolod.
“Prior compliance with the turnover obligation would have significantly aided the necessary clearing and disaster relief operations following the recent typhoons,” Councilor Homer Bais stressed in his resolution approved by the SP.
Bais, chairperson of the SP Committee on Environment, said it is urgent that these vehicles are turned over and deployed. “The immediate turnover of these vehicles is crucial in the effective and timely implementation of essential service delivery and the city’s environmental service program.”
Under the 11-month contract for the collection/hauling and disposal of garbage that is in effect until Dec. 31 this year, the IPM has the contractual obligation to provide 20 three-wheeled motorized garbage collection equipment to numbered barangays inaccessible to garbage trucks, without additional cost to the city.
“Despite the issuance of various notices and communication, IPM has failed to effect the required turnover of (the 20) garbage collection equipment, constituting a material breach of the contractual obligation and hindering the smooth transition of vital public services,” Bais said, hence the resolution.
He said that IPM’s failure to comply “shall compel the City Legal Office to pursue all available legal remedies and impose sanctions, including, but not limited to, the imposition of liquidated damage and/or the termination of the contract.”
IPM, lone bidder of this year’s garbage collection contract, was slapped with more than P1 million in fines in August for failing to provide shredders for the three major public markets of Bacolod, and access to the GPS tracking the garbage collection trucks. | CGC
