Capitol engineering team to stay 1 month in Iligan

CEBU, Philippines - Personnel of the Cebu Provincial Engineering Office may stay longer in flood stricken areas of Iligan City in Northern Mindanao for retrieval and clearing efforts.

Provincial Engineer Eulogio Pelayre said that one month is not enough for his men to help in clearing the debris of the worst floods that hit the place days before Christmas.

“Ang uban didto nag pasko, karon lain nasad nga grupo ang adto mag New Year,” Pelayre said.

After the incident, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia immediately sent relief assistance to the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro which were hit by flash floods.

The Province of Cebu is the first local government unit who immediately sent heavy equipment to assist in the clearing operations in Iligan City with the help of private contractors who have projects in Mindanao.

The Cebu contractors are the WTG Construction, Socor Construction, Duros Construction and OR Sarmiento with their own personnel manning their heavy equipment.

Pelayre said there are 15 Capitol personnel with two engineers in the area now. Four of them are set to come home today but another group will replace them.

Pelayre said each batch will stay in the area for two weeks and will be replaced by another group.

The personnel are staying in their own makeshift tents following the orders of Garcia not to give additional burden to the affected local government unit.

However, the fuel for the heavy equipment comes from the LGU of Iligan City. There are bulldozers, graders, loaders, dump truck, backhoe, water tank, prime mover and long-bed truck in the area.

Pelayre said they are sourcing out more equipment as the ones being used are not enough.

The retrieval operation is focused in Orchid Village, Bayug Islet and the mountain barangays of Hinaplanon, Bonbonan and Bigkilan where a lot of human bodies are suspected buried in the mud.

Equipment from Cebu also help in the clearing of roads where there are lots of logs and debris.

Last Tuesday, Garcia and some town officials personally visited the place and turned over assistance amounting to at least P6 million to Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

The Capitol donated P5 million. P1.1 million came from contributions of 14 local government units. Another P10,000 was also raised by the Cebu Provincial Health Office.

Garcia and mayors gave the donations over to Mayors Lawrence Lluch Cruz of Iligan and Vicente Emano of Cagayan de Oro.

Both Cruz and Emano said the assistance from Cebu is the biggest they received so far. — (FREEMAN)