MANILA -  After the storm comes the cleanup.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government on Wednesday called for a meeting of governors and mayors in Metro Manila this Friday to discuss the removal of some 20,000 tons of garbage and debris in the wake of Tropical Storm Ondoy (international codename Ketsana).

Undersecretary Melchor Rosales, DILG officer-in-charge, said local government units in Metro Manila and nearby provinces are bound to miss the 3-day deadline imposed by President Arroyo to clean up the mess left by the storm. The deadline expires on Wednesday.

"We're doing everything we can. A lot of equipment including dump trucks were also downed [by the storm]. We have been appealing to private owners to lend us construction equipment," Rosales told radio dzMM.

He added that only 10 dump trucks have so far been lent to local government units.

The DILG official said Rizal Gov. Casimiro Ynares has already agreed to open the San Mateo , Montalban at Rodriguez landfills to receive the garbage left by the storm. He said that the collected garbage in Metro Manila were still in temporary pits and have yet to be transported to the principal landill in Rizal province, which was also badly-hit by the storm.

Rosales said Mrs. Arroyo's declaration of state of calamity authorizes local government units to enter into emergency contracts with private companies to rush their clean-up drive.

The President ordered the massive cleanup after receiving complaints that relief and rehabilitation efforts were being hampered by tons of garbage blocking roads in many affected areas. The uncollected garbage also poses threat to the health of communities, particularly at evacuation centers.

Mrs. Arroyo said local governments should push their garbage contractors to work harder and take the initiative of getting more trucks to augment their existing fleet.

She also said garbage haulers could voluntarily hire more trucks, considering they have huge contracts with the local governments for the collection of garbage.