Mayor Irma Hernández’s Garbage Plan in San Miguelito Panama is Rejected

The garbage problem in San Miguelito remains unresolved, and Mayor Irma Hernández expressed her frustration, stating that she is not allowed to do her job.  According to the official, she was ready to start this Monday with the waste collection plan that her administration had designed over months, but “without communication and without taking me into account, they took the job away from me,” Hernández said with a broken voice.  The mayor emphasized that San Miguelito needs “a little more effort, planning and decisions that are not made overnight,” while her tears reflected the magnitude of her frustration.  Revisalud’s contract expires this January 18th, and the Cabinet Council authorized, on January 13th, the Urban and Domestic Cleaning Authority (AAUD) to assume control of the collection service, after the collapse of the system and the health risk that affects more than 200,000 residents, which generated a critical scenario. 

What the Sanitation Authority does with Revisalud is no different: it simply collects and collects the garbage and takes it to the landfill,” Hernández pointed out.  The mayor’s transition plan included the participation of three companies approved by the National Economic Council (CENA) for $3.8 million, ready to begin operations pending only the Comptroller’s Office’s endorsement. She may need to call in the President pictured above left because……with just three days before their implementation, the Comptroller’s Office decided to halt the contracts.  The Comptroller General of the Republic reported that it did not endorse the solid waste collection contracts in San Miguelito after detecting multiple legal, technical and budgetary irregularities that made their execution unfeasible. 

According to the Comptroller’s Office, the measure was taken to guarantee the proper provision of the service, given that the AAUD had intervened in the service since January 1, 2026, in the district’s nine townships. The report indicates that this situation creates a duality in service provision, which legally prevents the renewal of the contracts.  In response to this situation, Congressman Eduardo Gaitán described the Comptroller’s measure as “completely out of order” and criticized the oversight body for seeking to mediate between elected officials and private companies.  “The garbage problem is so large and of such monumental magnitude that we need to address it with a plan. This plan had been in the works at the mayor’s office for over a year and a half and included a preliminary assessment, something fundamental before implementing any solution,” said Hernández, visibly affected by the halt in her efforts.