What, no need to call for a state of calamity?

At the special meeting for the Regional Development (RDC-7) at the Montebello Hotel for the Draft Development Plan for the year 2011-2016 last Tuesday, my good friend, Emmanuel “Manny” Delos Santos Rabacal chairman of the Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) reintroduced a resolution which was passed way back in 2009 that enjoins the Local Government Units (LGU), the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to assess and clean up all rivers in Region 7 as part of the disaster prevention.

With a smirk in his face, Manny Rabacal reminded the RDC that the resolution they introduced in 2009 originally came from a resolution that we introduced to the RDC when I was chairman of the IDC, which was then called the Infrastructure and Utilities Committee (IUC) more than 10 years ago. That triggered questions as to why this resolution was reintroduced.

The answer is simple. Our government agencies and the LGUs who are tasked to clean up our rivers, esteros or creeks have failed to implement this resolution way back in year 2009 when the RDC-IDC resolution was then introduced. What should we call this grievous sin by our LGUs? The sin of omission? What we are seeing here is the total negligence by the people in the government on doing preventive work in order to prevent flooding in the low lying areas of Metro Cebu.

Last week, Mandaue City and Cebu City declared a state of calamity because of the unprecedented flooding we had due to that “Micro Burst.” But was it necessary for Cebu City or Mandaue City to call for a State of Calamity? No sir, it wasn’t necessary if only they followed the RDC Resolution back in 2009. In truth, the state of calamity is not the flooding that struck us; rather, the flooding was the result of sheer negligence by our government officials! It wasn’t as if the RDC Resolution did not warn them. They were properly warned but they were totally negligent!

During the RDC special meeting, I told the members that last Jan.25 at the height of the Micro Burst, I was on my way to Casino Español for a meeting. I passed by Juana Osmeña St. in front of our Century Plaza Complex which usually gets flooded when there is a strong rain. With the rain so strong, I was prepared to see flooding in that portion of Juana Osmeña St. But to my amazement, the street wasn’t flooded. This made me very curious as to why this portion of the street wasn’t flooded in the worst rains that we’ve experienced in years.

I later found out when I called my good friend Engr. Pericles “Ricky” Dakay of Dakay Construction who is doing the ground work for Taft Properties, owned by the Gaisano Family. They are building a high-rise condominium along Mango Avenue in what we used to call “Taop” or the property of the Paterno Family.

What Ricky told me was a bit shocking as he said that he took 70 dump trucks worth of garbage in the area he was working on. Rainwater drains along or under Mango Square then through St. Theresa’s College (STC) and then towards the Gaisano property. What this story teaches us is simple: Clean up the drainage or culverts and flooding would disappear.

So I’d like to reiterate, there would have been no need for our LGUs to declare a state of calamity if only our government officials did the job that we are paying them to do. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been writing columns saying that we have the best laws ever enacted by Congress, but when it comes to implementation of these laws, we are below zero! What we citizens get from our public officials are the usual excuses like lack of money or technical constraints. But the bottom line is, it is the lack of political will!

Now the City of Cebu under Mayor Michael Rama has issued an eviction notice to some 120 families living along the Mahiga Creek. It makes us ask whether Mayor Jonas Cortes would also issue the same eviction notice. If he doesn’t know, there is a house constructed right above a tributary of the Mahiga Creek just behind hole no.13 of the Cebu Country Club. How this concrete house got a building permit from the Office of the Building Official (OBO) is a wonder. But no one’s house or shanty should be blocking our creeks and rivers at the expense of the rest of the people.

Again, what we would like to see is for our LGUs to get back the 3-meter easement along the river or creek side from those families who built their shanties, which have help clog these rivers or creeks. Perhaps someday we shall hear a report from our LGUs that finally they have cleared all our rivers and creeks of the homes that have blocked the flow of water. We shall keep monitoring the performance of these LGUs in the months to come.