Mayor to head citywide coastal, river cleanup

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Michael Rama will once again spearhead a citywide cleanup drive along the coastal areas and creeks of the city on March 16, although the city coastal and river management boards will not yet remove the illegal structures that will be found in the waterways.

In yesterday’s press briefing, Coastal Management Board executive officer Pedro Cuizon said hundreds of students from different public and private schools have already signified their intention to join the city-wide clean-up drive.

But unlike last year when City Hall gave a sack of rice to each participating barangay, this time Cuizon said they can only afford half a sack.

“Basin tag-tunga lang tingali sa sako,” he said.

Cuizon said the Coastal Management Board was allocated a P750,000 budget in 2012, but for this year the budget was reduced to only P250,000.

It was not yet clear if the Cebu Contractors Association will join the cleanup like what they did last year when they allowed the city to use their heavy equipment like backhoes and cargo trucks.

Cuizon said he will recommend for the removal of illegal structures that have been constructed within the waterways that block the passage of rainwater directly to the sea.

Mahiga and Lahing-Lahing creeks used to be wide waterways but have slowly became narrow creeks due to the illegal constructions of structures on both sides.

Rama is determined to remove the houses along the riverbanks, but he cannot do it now due to the lack of budget for their relocation site.

Several houses are constructed in danger areas like those beside the Kinalumsan River in barangays Mambaling and Duljo-Fatima, the Guadalupe River and the Lahug River.

Some 70 houses are also built on top of a creek in barangay Carreta that prevents City Hall personnel and volunteers from cleaning the river.

Barangay officials have been blamed for this problem because they are hesitant to strictly enforce the law that prohibit the construction of structures within the three-meter easement of creeks.  —/BRP (FREEMAN)