EXCEPT for the difficulty in tearing down structures built on water, the second day of the clearing operations in the coastal barangays on Mactan Island went ahead without any major hassle yesterday.
Renato Parba, who leads the demolition team from the Material Recovery Facility (MRF), said it’s harder to demolish structures built on the water because they have to use a small boat in bringing the debris to the trucks which will transport them to the MRF base in Barangay Mactan.
“Kadtong mga tag-iya ug boarding house wa naman moguba sa ilang boarding house kay naghulat na lang sa demolition team kay mogasto pa daw sila kon sila magpaguba,” said Parba. (Owners of boarding houses just waited for the demolition team to tear down their structures to save money).
The demolition, which was ordered by the Lapu-Lapu City government, was effected to lessen the coliform content of the waters around the island, a major tourist destination in the Visayas.
The tearing down of at least 600 illegal structures is expected to last three months, Parba said.
First to be torn down by personnel from the MRF, City Engineering and Clean and Green were boarding houses and piggeries.
Joel Pabuaya, 50, owner of a boarding house in Barangay Ibo and a resident of said barangay, could only sigh as the demolition team completely tore down his house.
“Wala ta’y mahimo kay dili man ni atoa,” said Pabuaya. (We can’t do anything since this is not ours).
Pabuaya said his boarding house costs P170,000 but claimed that he had already earned enough since he had been leasing the building for 20 years.
Meanwhile, Parba said that heaps of smelly garbage were discovered under the demolished structures which were immediately disposed by members of the Clean and Green team.