Lots along Buhisan river have titles

CEBU, Philippines - City Councilor Dave Tumulak was both surprised and worried upon the discovery that private individuals were able to secure lot titles for homes lying along Buhisan River, where water from the dam flows.

“These areas are supposed to be owned by the state considering it’s within the three meter easement zone,” Tumulak said.

The south district councilor is the designated representative of Mayor Michael Rama to the Reduce Danger Zones otherwise known as ReDZ project aimed at preventing calamities caused by waterways around the city.

Part of preventive measures of the project is to finally enforce the easement zone in the hopes of decreasing potential number of calamity victims.

With the help of key city hall offices like the Department for Welfare of Urban Poor (DWUP) and Tumulak’s office staff, the city was able to come up with a topographic map noting the titled lots near the 101-year-old Buhisan Dam.

At least 80 individual lot titles were plotted by Tumulak’s office, which has not even reached half of the total titles that they obtained and whose data are to be incorporated with the topographic map.

City government plans to meet with concerned government agencies to raise this concern.

“We will ask the Bureau of Lands as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as to how these titles were allowed. This gives us additional problem in enforcing the easement because the very track of water is titled,” Tumulak said.

Buhisan Dam is surrounded by state-owned watershed with NGOs and POs operating reforestation and livelihood programs under memorandum of agreement.

Both the watershed and the dam are part of the Central Cebu Protective Landscape (CCPL) along with other watersheds in the province.

Reacting to the earlier statement of Metropolitan Cebu Water District, which operates the water catchment facility, that water level warning system does not apply to the dam way smaller than those in Luzon, Tumulak opined that this should not be taken as a reason not to proactively address fears of overflow.

“So what if the warning comes an hour or minutes after the preceding one? The important thing is the community is warned. This is not to cause panic but more of disaster prevention,” he explained.

Mayor Rama, for his part, stressed that MCWD should not focus on what cannot be done rather thinking that it should be done for the general welfare.

While acknowledging the right of settlers not to leave their homes amid issued warnings, he did not dismiss the possibility of forced evacuation if needed.

Based on the records obtained by the city government as relayed by Tumulak, the immediate surroundings of Buhisan Dam are titled to MCWD with a coverage of about 66,000 hectares.

The city councilor also stressed the need for MCWD management to reach out to the community, appeasing worries from households fearing that water overflowing from the dam might endanger their lives especially during rainy season.

“An explanation from MCWD to the people will be very helpful. We hope this happens soon. I also need to sit down with them to clarify some concerns,” he said.  (FREEMAN)