City eyes funds for other projects to solve flooding

CEBU, Philippines - With only P7 million left as calamity fund, the Cebu City government is eyeing at using money for two projects for initiatives to address the perennial problem of flooding here.

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said the money will be spent for “short-term plans” such as dredging of rivers and buying a suction machine.

“Pero kinahanglan gyud og long-term solution. There should be… sige pa plan karon. Mao na kanang dredging, kanang suction machine, mga temporary ra na, dili long-term plan. Igo ra mo-mitigate, igo ra mominos sa tubig pero dili gyud moingon nga long- term,” Labella said.

The city is eyeing the P200 million for a drainage project and another P100 million for the rehabilitation of the Mahiga River.

“Gikinahanglan makagamit (if needed) sa katong funds sa drainage nga naa sa Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) mga P200 million. There is also P100 million sa Reduction of Danger Zones (REDZ) sa Mahiga Creek Rehabilitation,” Labella said.

He assured, nevertheless, that the city government will not use the whole P300 million.

Councilor Sisinio Andales said that should the funds be utilized, the City Council will identify the priority items needed by the city’s Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC).

“Among tan-awon unsa ilang priority… asa dapit priority nila,” Andales said.

Andales said the P7-million calamity fund is yet to be released but the money will be released soon considering that City Hall has already placed the city under a state of calamity following heavy flooding the other day.

Labella said the flooding should serve as a wakeup call for the city to finally find a solution to the problem.

“It was a wakeup call, an eye-opener that the problem of flooding is serious. It has been with us for so many years, unya kato gahapon (other day), it highlighted to call to action not just the government but also the people,” Labella said.

He said a simple yet effective thing that ordinary people can do is to dispose of their garbage properly.

Labella also asked big establishments to follow the three-meter easement policy so that the city can widen the rivers.

Article 51 of Presidential Decree No. 1067 known as The Water Code of the Philippines states, “the banks or rivers and streams and the shores of the seas and lakes throughout their entire length and within a zone of three meters in urban areas, twenty meters in agricultural areas and forty meters in forest areas, along their margins, are subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, flotage, fishing and salvage. No person shall be allowed to stay in this zone longer than what is necessary for recreation, navigation, flotage, fishing, or salvage or to build structures of any kind.” — /JMO (FREEMAN)