Along Cebu City waterways: Clearings resume

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City government has resumed its clearing operations for the recovery of the three-meter easement along rivers and streams after being interrupted by the Omicron-driven surge in coronavirus cases and the election ban.

An estimated 14,000 informal settlers and some establishments are expected to be affected by the clearings.

Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CCDRRMC) chairman Atty. Gerry Carillo said they were already told by the Mines and Geo Sciences Bureau of Department of Environment and Natural Resources to clear the three-meter easement.

Easing the waterways is expected to solve not only flooding, but also promote safety of the people and the environment.

“During our meeting, ingon man to ipauna nila kaninig naa sa Colon. Pero among gi-assess murag dako-dako og trabahuon ang Colon naay mga dagkong structure nga mabugkang… Daghan og engineering works nga atong gitan-aw if we are going to implement it now," said Carillo.

Other portions that prove challenging in the clearing operation are the ones in T. Padilla area, Tagunol in Basak and Bulacao, as there are private properties involved once the areas are being eased out.

“We just found out that pag-conduct sa parcellary survey sa DPWH inig recover nimo sa three-meter easement, masud na sa private property… Wa man guy kuan aning sapa, kay maglihok-lihok biya ning sapa, nawa ang original niya, nasud nas portion sa private property,” disclosed Councilor Jerry Guardo.

Guardo said negotiations with private owners are underway with the hope of coming up with a win-win solution.

While everything is still under negotiation, construction work in those areas is still being suspended.

With this, the city government will have to focus first on areas that were already due for clearing, but were interrupted by the Omicron-driven surge and election ban.

“Naay naabtan ta sa Executive order ni mayor Rama before sa election pagtaas sa kaso sa Covid, Oplan Puyo, so contradicting kaayo nga mo-demolish mi unya naabtan mig election ban so wala gyud mi naka-enforce sa clearing operations,” said Guardo.

Based on the last figures presented by the Department of Public Works and Highways to Guardo, there are about 2,000 structures along the rivers and waterways which are used by over 14,000 individuals.

“Ang pinaka-challenging gyud ani karon kay ang kaning sa Kinalumsan rive, boundary na siya sa Duljo-Fatima ug Mambaling, medyo baga-baga gyud na sila diha ron, kung wako masayop kapin na sila sa 200 ka structures,” said Guardo.

Majority of the affected families in the said area have already accepted financial assistance from the city government. In turn, they would voluntarily vacate the area and settle somewhere else.

The number of affected individuals could even go higher as Punta Princesa is also bent on recovering the river which is under one of the sitios affected by the massive fire recently.

Relocation

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, however, told Carillo to make sure affected families in the clearing operations should be given relocation.

“Dili sila siya ganahan nga mag-clearing unya way kabalhinan ang mga namuyo," Carillo said.

The city government is looking at building more medium-rise buildings for displaced families.

Guardo even noted that many of the illegal settlers regret accepting financial assistance from the city government earlier after seeing the MRB in Lorega-San Miguel.

In line with the clearing operations itself, Guardo said he already called a meeting together with the other concerned department and agencies to “revisit” some of the areas due for clearing after learning that the markings they made earlier were already being erased.

“Told them to revisit the are kay ang mga markings which we did earlier, gipangpapas nas mga tawo. Magmarking na pud usab,” said Guardo.

“Hopefully, with the directive of Mayor Mike to really implement the project, mao na balik na said mi,” he added.

“We are back on track… Tuloy-tuloy na ni siya,” said Guardo. - with Decemay P. Padilla, JMD (FREEMAN)