If the lesson of Thursday’s s downpour which stranded commuters all across Metro Cebu was lost on local officials, then residents and visitors will have little choice but to learn to cope with the “new normal” and prepare for worse days ahead.
The Sept. 18 downpour coincided with a series of meetings this week by Cebu City Hall’s River Management Council with commercial establishments, whose structures were built on what were once natural waterways. Current laws prohibit building structures that block access in a three meter easement zone from water bodies.
It remains to be seen whether the business entities will be part of the problem or the solution.
Colonnade Mall’s lawyer said they couldn’t be considered illegal because the former Oriente theater complex was built on property long before the Water Code and similar legal restrictions were approved.
This despite the fact that they’ve admitted to experiencing flooding in the past two years, said River Council chief Jose Daluz III.
Ayala Center Cebu representatives said their drainage system was a serious investment of almost P700 million. They were surprised to receive a notice and summons from City Hall at all.
Their underground canals are reportedly big enough for a jeepney to drive through.
But the climate and landscape are changing beyond everyone’s calculations.
The test of Sept. 18’s generous rainfall showed that parts of Cebu city considered the most developed – the uptown Cebu Business Park and downtown Colon Street –- suffered like everyone else,
Water inundated parking lots, stores, and homes.
Some basics have to be addressed.
In the process of tracking down big stakeholders along the path of the Mahiga Creek, City Hall realized to its horror that there were no copies of drainage plans of private establishments in the City Planning and Development Office.
This exposed a lack of an effective system to monitor, much less guide, private developers as they start to put up their towers and parking lots all over the city.
The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, whether a construction in one spot is a sound choice or whether it obstructs the flow of rainwater during a thunderstorm.
Everyone has a plan, but they don’t necessarily make sense together.
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