Bridges of Mahiga Creek

There is no romance here, but maybe there is love lost between Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.

The conflict between the two mayors started when Mayor Rama wants the footbridges over the Mahiga Creek demolished since these obstruct the important waterways and encourage settlements at the Mandaue side of the creek.

Long before this, the Mandaue chief executive has been saying that solving flood in his corner of Metro Cebu should be addressed holistically, from way up the mountains of Cebu City. True.

And Rama perhaps looking downstream has cleared some portions of the Mahiga creek bank. If one drives by the coastal road and cross the boundary of the two cities in the Mahiga Bridge, the contradiction is imminent.

The Cebu City side is clear, but the Mandaue City side is full of structures from the informal settlers. In fairness to Mandaue City, they started clearing their side of the creek last week.

As a reparté to Rama’s footbridge challenge, Mayor Cortes fired back, saying that Cebu City has a facility in the Mandaue side of the Mahiga creek – the abattoir – that may also contribute to the siltation of the creek.

And now comes the City Treasurer’s Office of Mandaue levying real estate taxes for the abattoir of Cebu City.

When the abattoir issue was raised before Mayor Rama, he was quick to point a finger. “That abattoir wasn’t mine before…” and proceeded that he plans to transform the “ugly” facility into something modern next year.

The head of the abattoir operations was quoted as saying that they had been talking about improving the facility with the City Council.

Ooppps, before Mandaue City fires another missile, can Cebu City Hall keep its acts together?
Politicians firing diatribes against each other always catch attention. It entertains the way sabong (cockfight) does.

But before people start placing bets, it is important to put things in the proper context before the metropolis gets flooded again.

Praise should be given to the efforts of both local government units to address the flooding problem. Cebu City has done something to remove obstructions in the Mahiga Creek, and of late Mandaue City bit the bullet and demolished informal settlers on their side of the creek.

Rather than trounce each other and gain media soundbytes, time has come for local governments in Metro Cebu and national government agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways to roll out an integrated drainage system.

Nature knows no political boundaries. When water overflows, it doesn’t matter whether it came from Busay or in the Cebu or Mandaue side of Mahiga Creek.

It is still called floodwater.