City Engineering starts siphoning off floodwater on Poblacion Pardo

Cebu City Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) begins siphoning off on Sept. 13, 2019 the floodwater that has stagnated on 2nd Street of a subdivision in Barangay Poblacion Pardo since July this year. |CDND Photo/Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW) began the siphoning off the months-old floodwater on 2nd Street, Barangay Poblacion Pardo, Cebu City, on Friday noon, September 13, 2019.

Engineer Guillermo Viola, the head of the drainage planning division, said  they were supposed to survey the area today, but Mayor Edgardo Labella has directed them to siphon the floodwater immediately.

Viola said it was a challenge because the city does not have a map of the drainage plan of the subdivision, it being a private property.

The siphoning was supposed to start at around 10 a.m. but was delayed for two hours as they had to look for a manhole where the pumped water would go.

Furthermore, residents of nearby streets were initially hesitant to begin the pumping because they believed the drainage underneath the road was clogged and full of garbage.

“Unsaon man na ninyo nga sa ilawom kay clogged naman na! Kami na pud ang mabahaan?” said a resident of R. Abellanosa.

(What will happen if you pump the water into our drainage when it is clogged underneath? We will suffer flood.)

However, the DEPW personnel pushed through with the siphoning explaining to the residents that their area would not be flooded  since it is not a water catch basin.

The siphoning began at noon when a slow drizzle began, causing concern to the DEPW that a downpour may add more floodwater to pump.

Viola said that pumping the water out is a “band-aid solution” to the bigger problem of drainage.

He decided to leave the pump in the area in case of another flood, but he said this will not address the real problem.

“Kailangan gyud ta maghimo’g bagong drainage diring dapita. Kay ig ulan bahaon man gyod ning dapita (We need to build a new drainage in this are because everytime it rains, this area will always be flooded),” said Viola.

Mayor Labella already said in recent statements that the city has asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to hasten its drainage expansion at the Natalio Bacalso Highway to lessen the flood in Pardo.

He hoped that with a bigger drainage system on higher grounds, the lower areas will have lesser chances of flooding. /elb