A creek this dirty is more than just an eyesore. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Outgoing Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna urged the Cebu City government to clear their side of Mahiga Creek from informal settlers and monitor garbage disposal in the area.
Fortuna made the comment a day after he personally witnessed Mahiga Creek overflow and inundated the streets of Barangay Subangdaku in Mandaue City and Barangay Mabolo in Cebu City as a heavy downpour occured on Sunday, June 23.
Piles of trash, including plastic bottles and plastic bags, floated on the creek.
Fortuna said most of the trash are not from Mandaue City.
“In our side, we already cleared the informal settlers. We believe that the source of that garbage could be coming from Cebu City,” Fortuna said in an interview on Monday, June 24.
Fortuna said there are still informal settlers from the Cebu City side.
“We’ve seen a difference in the amount of solid wastes in the area when we cleared our part of the creek from informal settlers. Like in Butuanon (River), when we cleared our area from informal settlers, the solid waste volume dropped, ” he said.
Fortuna urged the officials of Barangay Mabolo, where the other side of the creek lies, to monitor garbage disposal in their area especially that in times of flooding, the water will most likely flow to the direction of Mandaue City.
He said that aside from the residents living near riverbanks, irresponsible disposal of trash in roads and nearby drainage ways contribute to flooding and trash overflowing as the garbage will eventually flow to rivers and other waterways during a downpour.
On Sunday, June 23, Fortuna posted photos of the heavy downpour which led water from Mahiga Creek to overflow along with plastic bottles and plastic bags.
Personnel from the Mandaue City General Services Office (GSO) and Department of Public Services (DPS) hauled the trash on the same day. / celr