Who is to blame for floods in barangay Guadalupe?

CEBU - Flashfloods brought about by the heavy downpour the other night resulted to landslides and now fingers are being pointed at who is to blame for the displacement of about 30 families from barangay Guadalupe.

Residents blame a subdivision development in the hills of their barangay for their woes, but the developer points to the refusal of the residents to leave as the reason for their suffering.

Aid has however been immediately given to the affected families from both the subdivision developer and the city government of Cebu.

Landco Pacific Corporation, developer of Monterrazas de Cebu, has been blamed by the residents as the cause of the flooding. 

An official of Landco, Mike Reyes, vice president for Visayas and Mindanao, said that there was just too much water the other night. He also blamed the residents, who refused to leave the area despite offers for relocation, for their own woes.

Review

The Cebu City Government is now set to review the development plans of the subdivision.

Paul Villarete, city planning and development officer, said that he was supposed to recommend the lifting of the cease and desist order which will eventually reinstate the development permit of Monterrazas de Cebu, but now he has second thoughts.

“But with the recent incident, we will dig deeper into this and review again,” Villarete said.

In a meeting yesterday with the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council, Councilor Gerardo Carillo said that the victims were already given meal assistance from the city as they are now working on with the temporary relocation site of the victims.

Lawyer Dindo Perez, managing director of Jen Vi Development Corporation, the owner of the land being developed by Landco, said that they will temporarily shelter the victims to their 1,000 square meter lot located in Sapangdaku.

“We are doing our best to mitigate the damage,” Perez said adding the eight houses that were washed out are staying along the natural waterway.

Perez said that they have been telling the residents to vacate the place several times but to no avail.

Guadalupe barangay captain Eugenio Faelnar said that the garbage in the area thrown by the residents has contributed to the flooding in the site.

Faelnar also defended the developer saying that he had personally checked the water detention ponds that have been built and saw that they did not overflow.

The city suspended the development permit of Landco and imposed some recommendations such as the completion of the rehabilitation of the six water detention ponds, which has a total capacity of at least 10,000 cubic meters of rainwater.

The housing project with a land area of 210 hectares was blamed for the landslide that affected sitio Dakit, barangay Guadalupe in April this year. Yesterday’s incident was the second.

LANDCO Statement

Mike Reyes, vice president for Visayas and Mindanao of Landco said that the incident cannot be blamed on them.

He said that they already built six detention ponds to help reduce the discharge of water. Reyes said that there was just too much water.

“Nobody should live in the waterway,” Reyes said referring to the affected residents, who insist to live in the area despite the offer for relocation.

LANDCO not to blame

Guadalupe barangay captain Eugenio “Jingjing” Faelnar has strongly denied that the flashflood was caused by the subdivision project.

Faelnar said it is very impossible that the flashfloods came from Monterrazas because its developer has already constructed six detention ponds to prevent the crushed earth from going down.

About 30 families fled from their homes shortly before midnight last Monday after a heavy downpour was experienced in the city and the water rose to as high as six feet.

Faelnar said that even if the subdivision project is not the cause of the flooding, the company is very much willing to help the affected families by repairing their clogged up drainage.

Most victims are kids

Most those displaced by the flashflood are children aged eight years old and below.

Avelina Montano, a resident in sitio Dakit, Guadalupe, Cebu City, decided to evacuate her nine grandchildren following mud flows coming from the said subdivision.

The Guadalupe Disaster Brigade rescued a total of 20 children in sitio Dakit and has temporarily housed them at the Guadalupe barangay hall.

Montano blamed anew the Monterazzas subdivision for the sudden flooding in their vicinity.

Romulo Guarin, a member of Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council, said the mudflow compared to the April 14 incident was worse.

"Mas kusog ron ang pagbaha unya hapit na molapas sa tawo," Guarin said. He will be submitting his report to Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo for appropriate action against the subdivision. – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, Niña Chrismae G. Sumacot, Rene U. Borromeo, and Ramil V. Ayuman/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)