The Office of the Ombudsman will create a special investigative team to look into alleged corruption in garbage collection and waste management contracts across the country, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Thursday.
‘We will create a special investigative team for this … we will do it,’ he said during the hearing held by the Senate committee on finance on the agency’s budget for 2027.
According to Remulla, the Ombudsman will look into how garbage collection and waste management contracts are handled by local governments. He said the system could be vulnerable to corruption as they involve huge funding from local governments.
‘The budget for garbage is so big that it can blind a lot of people into just making money out of it,’ he said, adding that there are ‘characters’ in society whom he referred to as ‘basura [trash] kings.’
‘The big haulers are ‘basura kings,’ your honor, and they are here in Manila, Metro Manila, Manila City, and everywhere,’ Remulla told the Senate panel although he noted that the problem is not just confined to the National Capital Region but nationwide.
‘The tragedy, Your Honor, is that the work of the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) is never started or finished because garbage hauling begins with local governments, but the succeeding requirements are not followed-segregation, proper sanitary landfills, everything,’ he said.
Most lucrative scheme
Remulla alleged that garbage collection has become one of the most lucrative contracting schemes involving unscrupulous local officials.
According to him, questionable arrangements involving waste collection are widespread among cities and municipalities.
He said the DENR should have a bigger hand in the implementation of the country’s waste management system.
Earlier, Remulla, in his radio program, called on mayors to scrutinize offices under their supervision for possible corruption in local garbage collection and waste management contracts.
He said such contracts can potentially be manipulated through inflated costs, favored contractors, kickbacks or other irregular arrangements.
At the same time, Remulla also urged the public to report irregularities involving mayors and offices under them.
This is my challenge to them, and also to the public. If you have a complaint against the mayor, or about what is happening in the area where you applied for a license, complain to the mayor, furnish us with a copy. Then, furnish ARTA (Anti-Red Tape Authority) with a copy so that we know who will act,’ he said