Mandaue blames garbage, illegal settlers for floods
GARBAGE stuck in drainage and illegal settlements along riverbanks aggravate flooding in Mandaue City.
Cleaning up drainage lines needs the support of private companies where canals pass through.
An effective relocation plan for settlers along waterways is also needed, said Florentino Nimor, acting Mandaue City planning and development officer.
He identified 54 flood-prone areas, 32 of them in the city’s major streets.
“Most of these are inter-related. The water has a hard time passing through the drainage because of so much garbage,” Nimor said in a press conference.
Although Mandaue City has a 10-year-old drainange master plan, it needs updating with the rise of new barangays in the city.
Nimor said they started a clean-up drive in A.S. Fortuna, especially near Rolling Hills funeral homes, in barangay Tingub, Tabok, and in highways.
The bigger clean-up drive would start in June, Nimor said.
About 50 famlies living by riverbanks have moved to a 6.5-hectare relocation site in barangay Paknaan, said Cynthia Suico, community affairs officer of the Housing Urban Poor Development Office (HUDO).
Most of these families were living near the river at zone Monggos, barangay Paknaan, sitio Salvacion and Sapa-sapa, Maguikay, sitio Orel, barangay Banilad, and Philcadan residents in Subangdaku.
Suico said 30 more bunkhouses were built t house more families. They expect 100 families to transfer to the relocation site this month.
IAt least 156 informal settlers return to their hometowns under the city’s Balik-Probinsya program, said Suico.
The HUDO is asking the City Council to approve P1.95 million in financial assistance for about 400 families who agreed to move out of riverbanks and return to their hometowns.
A recommendation is now awaiting approval from the city council for 25 families of the Philcadan Homeowners Association insSitio Orel in barangay Banilad to each recieve P18,300 while 126 informal settlers in barangay Paknaan,Tabok, and Maguikay will each received P10,000 financial aid.
Suico said some, who refused to be relocated, asked for financial aid to go home to the countryside. Most of these famiilies, Suico said came from Mindanao.
Edgardo Sanchez, also a community affairs officer of HUDO said that further development of the 6.5 relocation site is pending approval from the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources of the permit to cut trees in the area.
