So much rainwater but nothing to drink

I’m not sure whether Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA) Administration-Visayas chief Alfredo Quiblat Jr. has officially declared that summer is finally over and that it is the start of the rainy season. I arrived in Cebu last Monday afternoon and while the PAL plane was landing, the runway was still dry, then suddenly even before the plane reached the board bridge, it literally rained cats and dog. When we entered the arrival area, it was already drenched with water.

As we parked our car in the parking area of the Terminal 2, our main problem was entering the car as the parking floor was flooded with two or three inches of water. Perhaps we should call the attention of my good friend Andrew Harrison of GMR-Megawide that it is high time that they sit with my good friend, Antonio Carmelo Tompar of Mactan Rock, who can find ways to use that excess water into something that we Cebuanos truly lack, water for use in our homes.

At this point, I noticed that the drainage project along Salinas Drive is still under construction, which is the right thing to do. However, what I would like to know is when this project is done, where the hell is this waste rainwater going to be collected in the first place? Again, I have a suspicion that in government, the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing? What I learned from Tony Tompar a couple of months ago was that Cebu City needed to collect our excess rainwater which unfortunately drains into the sea.

We all saw that during a severe downpour a few days ago. It brought garbage that could not move out of the bridge due to the fact that there were just too many plastic bottles and other types of garbage. Mayor-elect Edgardo Labella should thank his lucky stars that this has happened still under the watch of Mayor Tomas Osmeña who he defeated in the last May 13 elections and whether people believe it or not, having an honest-to-goodness drainage system is one of the failures of the administration of Osmeña, who always brags about the SRP, but did not find solutions to our drainage systems.

Labella is the new hope for us Cebuanos. That under his watch, he would finally find solutions to our water woes. Like what I said, it is high time for the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) to install Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) in different parts of the metro and perhaps ask companies like Mactan Rock to link it with their desalination systems so this waste water from our rains would not go to waste and can be used to flush our toilets, clean our homes and get boiled for drinking. This is a matter of linking it to the right people with the right attitude in life like Tony Tompar.

Also, I believe that it is high time for companies like Nature Spring to find solutions to their selling single use plastic bottles that people buy and throw into our waterways. I don’t have to tell you what we saw a few days ago: plastic flotsam consisting of water containers thrown into the rivers.

Mind you, while I was in London, I met a friend whose company sold a reusable container for water. Unfortunately, I was in London for vacation so I had to ask my friend to send him materials about his product, which is made in China. If it is made in China, my big question is, maybe we could manufacture this product right here in Cebu?

So at the end of the day, we need to sit down together and help solve our drainage problems ourselves. I’m not saying that we would finally see an end to flooding, but at least we know that the rainwaters take time in cascading towards the drainage.

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I read the news report that Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte already appointed Cebu City’s female police chief Col. Royina Garma as general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). Honestly, I did not have the time to meet up with Col. Garma, but being appointed to the PCSO must be some kind of gift from Pres. Duterte for coming up with positive results in the last elections. No doubt, I find Col. Garma a strong-willed lady in having fought Mayor Tomas Osmeña for whatever it was worth!

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