Manila mayor denies P561-M payables to ex-garbage contractor

Manila Mayor Honey Lacuña denied allegations that the Manila City Hall has over P500 million unpaid balance with their former garbage collection contractor.

According to a "24 Oras" report on Wednesday, Lacuña said in a statement that payments to Leonel Waste Manage Corporation undergo a disbursement process and that the first four months of 2024 had already been paid.

She added that more than P131 million is already available to settle Manila's payables for May and June 2024.

“Hinggil naman sa paratang ng Leonel na kesyo may P561.4 million daw na utang ang Manila LGU sa kanila, hindi po iyan totoo. Dumadaan sa proseso ang disbursement para sa payments sa Leonel. Hindi iyan kaliwaan tulad ng pagbabayad ng mga gastusin ng isang pamilya,” Lacuña said.

(Regarding Leonel’s accusation of a P561.4 million unsettled bill of the Manila LGU, that is not true. Payments towards Leonel undergo a disbursement process. It is not a simple direct payment like how a family spends money.)

“Hindi po ito masasabing utang, kung hindi ito ‘due and demandable’ kagaya ng nakasaad sa aming kontratang pinirmahan,” she added.

(This cannot be called a debt, but a ‘due and demandable’ like how it is written in the contract we signed.)

Lacuña also reiterated that local barangays have reported Leonel allegedly abandoning their contract by not picking up trash on December 31. Said allegations have been denied by the contractor.

Meanwhile, Lacuña has ordered the new garbage collectors to clear out the remaining holiday garbage around Manila by January 10.

“Nagbigay na tayo ng deadline sa PhilEco at MetroWaste: tapusin ang paghahakot ng lahat ng tambak ng basurang naipon mula Pasko at Bagong Taon bago mag-Biyernes, January 10,” she said.

(We have given a deadline to PhilEco and MetroWaste: finish collecting all the remaining garbage from Christmas and New Year revelries before Friday, January 10.)

Earlier, the Manila government alleged that the piles of uncollected garbage around the city were a result of Leonel’s failure to fulfill its full contract until December 31.

“We are currently validating all these reports sent to us na noong [December] 31, which is the last day ng Leonel, meron silang initial na ginawang trash collection pero hindi tinapos,” said Manila local government spokesperson Princess Abante.

(We are validating reports that on December 31, the last day of Leonel Waste Management's contract, they started collecting trash but did not finish.)

“Example, if ang collection sa barangay is dalawang beses, isang beses na lang sila nagkolekta… Kaya pagpasok ng January 1, nagulat talaga lahat na maraming tambak na basura,” Abante added.

(If the collection in a barangay is twice a day, they collected only once, that's why when January 1 came, the garbage had accumulated.)

“We strongly refute this accusation… Last December 23, 2024, when we announced to our employees that our contract of service is ending on December 31, 2024, we mandated them to continue doing our usual services until the end of our contract,” Leonel said.

Leonel added that Manila’s alleged unsettled bill prompted them not to bid for a contract in 2025. —Jiselle Anne Casucian/LDF, GMA Integrated News