EDITORIAL — The past can help guide the future

According to a report in this newspaper, Cebu City’s Task Force Gubat sa Baha (TFsGB) is now looking for a “lost lake” that could serve as natural catch basin for rainwater to address flooding in the downtown area.

TFsGB chief of operations Charles Villagonzalo said the “potato-shaped” lake was located where Zulueta Bridge is now in Barangay Parian. It is also depicted in a map from the Spanish era before slowly disappearing in land surveys later on after being constricted and occupied by informal settlers as well as business establishments.

“Based on information during the Spanish time, mao ni ang Estero de Parian, mao ni ang dagat (other end), motago sila diri (lost lake) sauna during kanang naay mga bagyo-bagyo, motago sili diri nga lim-aw kay di man kasud ang tubig diri, safe haven nila ni niadto during the Spanish time mga 1500s to maybe early 1900s,” he said.

We can only say “wow!” How many of us knew about this old feature right in the middle of Cebu City? How many of us knew there was actually a small lake there? Perhaps only those who live in the area may have known about it before it was slowly swallowed up by time, progress, and squalor.

A “lost lake”? That alone sounds mysterious and intriguing. But if anything, this re-discovery of a lost lake shows how many of us may not be really familiar with our own history. And that Cebu City has a past richer than we ever knew. In fact, not many may know that those esteros going through the downtown area, Parian included, were once in fact wide and deep enough to accommodate boats bringing in goods. Those same boats may have sought safe harbor in the lost lake during storms

Sometimes it helps to look back to our past to help make our present and future better. If there is indeed a lake there, or at least a geographic feature that can help gather water so that the downtown will be spared from horrendous floods during downpours, then that feature must be reclaimed and rehabilitated.