Cebu City may send help to Metro Manila

CEBU, Philippines — Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Garcia is waiting for the assessment and recommendation of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office on what assistance to extend to Metro Manila following a massive flooding in the Capital due to monsoon rains dumped by super typhoon Carina.

“I will talk first to the disaster office for their own assessment,” Garcia said.

He said the city’s assistance could either be manpower or financial depending on the needs.

"Depende lang gyud na…We will wait for them (CCDRRMO),” added Garcia.

As the city looks into providing assistance to affected areas in Metro Manila, Garcia assured that they are also continuing to work to prevent such massive flooding from happening in Cebu City.

“We are already doing a lot of things…Dili ni overnight solution,” said Garcia.

He said the city government is currently working on a drainage master plan, something that would accommodate the volume of rains that have already been observed because of climate change.

Garcia admitted that the city’s existing drainage system is already out-dated. He said he had been conducting a weekly meeting with the members of the Task Force Gubat sa Baha.

The construction of mini gabion dams to improve the flow of water from the upland areas to the lowlands and an impounding of water are being seriously pursued, Garcia assured. Clearing operations of illegal structures along waterways are also being sustained to recover the three-meter easement zone.

According to Garcia, he already checked on the transitional houses and will be looking for a place to put it up so that those living along the waterways will have a place for relocation.

Ret. Maj. Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, chief of the Task Force Gubat sa Baha, said that there are 5,325 informal settler families living along the major rivers in the city. The city government needs transitional houses to relocate these families before they can be removed from the riverbanks.

Aside from transitional houses, the city government is also looking at providing a permanent settlement area for the informal settlers affected by the clearing operations. Among the permanent relocations considered by the city are medium-rise buildings (MRB).

Garcia said they are looking at re-bidding the unfinished MRB project in Barangay Lorega which was stopped in 2022.

The project was only 40-percent complete when the contractor, CB Garay Construction, abandoned the project. The proposed P227-million MRB has 176 units. According to the records, P118 million of the budget remains unutilized. — (FREEMAN)