BAGUIO Mayor Benjamin Magalong is still pushing for the termination of the city government’s contract with Rapid Process Inorganic Technology Innovation Corporation (Rapport) due to the company’s supposed failings in the conduct and operation of the city’s Environmental Recycling System (ERS) that have led to the city concluding that the company has failed to meet its obligations per their contract.
“We’re very frustrated with the performance and I don’t think they will be able to recover. They lack the funding, they lack the financing, they were not able to deliver their commitments and deliverables. So, our only recourse now is to terminate them,” the mayor said.
Magalong also said that the city is done negotiating with the company, as the city and the company have already had talks regarding the issues with the handling of the city’s garbage over the previous years ever since the signing of the memorandum of agreement between the two in 2018.
“We wrote them letters for them to recover their inadequacies, but they did not do it. So, I do not think they are capable of rehabilitating, of performing and at the same time delivering their commitments. So it is for the best that while it is still early we terminate them. They are just fooling us,” Magalong said.
Complaints of foul odors emanating from the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and the ERS operated by Rapport have previously been lodged by residents of Irisan for the city council to take action against.
General Services Officer Eugene Buyucan also previously reported that the company failed to construct a drainage system and a wastewater tank to control the leachate coming from the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) machines and to introduce a special technology for the treatment of wastewater.
Buyucan’s report also indicated that the company has not been able to maintain the condition of the ERS machines.
All of the aforementioned obligations, which the company was allegedly not able to fulfill, are stipulated in the 2018 MOA between the city and the company.
According to Buyucan, the city’s share in the profit derived from selling the compost produced by the facilities handled by Rapport from 2020 and the first half of 2021 has yet to be remitted by the company.
The five-year contract stipulates a profit-sharing scheme where RAPPORT shall pay LGU-BAGUIO P3.00 per kilogram of raw compost for the first year of operation, P4.00 for the second year, P5.00 for the third year, and P6.00 for the fourth and fifth years.
