I have to confess on two relevant things. One, urban planning is not my profession and two, I have no technical background on environment. But, in all humility, I like to consider myself the “dull and the ignorant” that the immortal Desiderata talks about because I feel that have an idea to push on a subject I am not competent with.
Cebu City’s north reclamation area emerged from the sea in the early 60’s. That is why it is called a reclamation. Decades later, Mandaue City kept pace with the addition of several hectares of its own reclaimed land, courtesy of FF Cruz and Co. What separates these two cities is the Mahiga River.
Few years ago, the Mandaue City side of the Mahiga River was filled up. It was occupied by hundreds of informal settlers. One time, fire broke out in the area and houses of many families got burned. Fire fighters had difficulty combatting the conflagration because they had very limited access to the burning area. If I remember correctly, there was another fire not far from the previous one and the same hindered movement met the firemen.
The Mandaue City government saw the hazard to life and property of its constituents. It cannot anymore allow to subject its people to further risks of catastrophic fires. The city leadership took the bull by its proverbial horn. The officials of the city decided to solve the problem once and for all.
The first thing the city did was to find a relocation area that could be acceptable to settlers who were destined to be displaced. They factored in such concerns as distances from work place, urban amenities as market place, school and church.
Having acquired a viable resettlement area, the city officialdom exerted tremendous amount of effort to show to the target beneficiaries the advantages of moving from being squatters to home owners themselves. They instilled the importance of human dignity and respectability of owning the land on which their houses would stand.
Today, the Mandaue City side of the Mahiga River is cleared of all informal settlers. In fact, the banks are improved so that waters do not overflow and inundate low laying areas anymore. This, I think, is the effective side of urban planning and knowledgeable approach to addressing environmental needs. The project started with then Mayor Jonas Cortes and we have to laud Mayor Luigi Quisumbing for giving it the necessary push.
We saw, during the administration of then Mayor Michael L. Rama, an effort to clear the Cebu City side of the waterway. If I remember correctly, Cebu City was ahead in doing the clearing of the informal settlers. Of course, Rama was stopped by the legal action of the affected house owners.
I believe that it is important to revisit the project of clearing the river banks of informal settlers. On the banks of Cebu City’s natural waterways, thousands of squatters have settled. A cursory visit to these dwellings will reveal complex health problems and environmental degradation. Many homes, for instance, do not have sanitary toilets. Dwellers of these houses just put their waste in plastic containers then throw them to the running water below. They do the same to their garbage.
It is easy to spot that these settlers have appropriated for themselves the river banks. Their constructions are established on the legal easements and sometimes the posts of their houses are erected on the river bed. Naturally, the banks have shrunk and the natural flow of water obstructed.
Cebu City, under the leadership of His Honor Mayor Tomas Osmeña, can replicate what Mandaue City is doing. It will not be anything embarrassing for Mayor Osmeña to do what is visibly good. People may consider him copycat, but what the hell!