Some residents in Poblacion, Talisay City fret over floodwater

CEBU, Philippines - Residents in Seguerra Compound, barangay Poblacion, Talisay City are worried of getting ill due to floodwater that seemingly refuses to settle.

“Kuyawan pud mi nga masakit mi ani. Atimana ig kanaug namo sa among bay, taga paa nga tubig sa baha ang mosugat namo. Kung pwede pa lang di mogawas,” lamented Annie Sumampong, whose house was surrounded by thigh-high flood after yesterday’s deluge. She said a neighbor died early this year reportedly of leptospirosis after wading through floodwater in the same spot where children of the compound usually play.

She said the knee-deep water which has become murky after it combined with the previous rainwater, has become stagnant due to lack of a drainage system in the area, generating a foul smell.

The lack of a drainage system has angered residents. Amor Duran, Sumampong’s neighbor, said residents struggle to get in and out of their place because of the water.

As of yesterday, the place was still submerged. Seguerra Compound, a densely populated area, lies in the inner part of the village and even its small pathway from the main street leading to the inner section is flooded. As The Freeman passed by the place yesterday, the water was ankle-deep in the pathway after an adjacent compound released trapped water by boring a hole in its perimeter fence.

The water settled on the pathway.

Here, the water has turned into syrup as Saturday’s rain combined with dirt and the previous rainwater.

Teacher Nilo Lape, also of the same barangay, could only watch as water encircled his house, with his wife’s plants disappearing under it.

“Dugay naman ni namo’ng gisumbong sa city hall. Wa man gihapo’y action,” he said.

Meanwhile, city lawyer Alfredo Sipalay said a plan to re-open the drainage in the area has been stalled after a Jun Salceda, owner of a beach resort where the water from the Seguerra Compound used to pass, closed the drainage allegedly because he does not want the sea fronting his beach contaminated with the compound’s waste water.

Sipalay said if Salceda continues to refuse to heed the city’s request to open the drainage, it may take him to court for an expropriation proceeding.

Sumampong said she wishes the government, being their only hope to solve the problem, would give them a drainage system as soon as possible before another one of them dies of leptospirosis.   (FREEMAN)