Cebu City to demolish buildings encroaching 3-meter easement along rivers

By: Delta Dyrecka Letigio - 2 years ago

This 2019 photo shows the Lahug River as seen overhead near the Sudlon Bridge on Modesta Gaisano Street, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Buildings encroaching the three-meter easement along the rivers of Cebu City will be demolished.

This was the statement of Mayor Michael Rama on June 24, 2022, when asked about the city’s plans to clear the three-meter easements of the city’s rivers.

Rama said that the city has short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans for the displaced families for the three-meter easement clearing.

“The recovery of the three-meter easement is not our demand, it’s a national demand. Our rivers are very ugly. Our waterways have become repositories. We need to do that as soon as possible,” he said.

In order to achieve this, he said the city will be relentless in taking down structures that have violated the three-meter easement policy even if these are large structures.

Rama has ordered the City Legal Office (CLO) to focus on the legal actions needed to be taken for these structures to be taken down.

“We will make this city second to none,” he added.

The city government is resuming the clearing of the three-meter easement along riverbanks in compliance with the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) order.

Lawyer Jerry Carillo, the chairperson of the Disaster Council, said it was also necessary to clear the three-meter easement to facilitate the river-widening and dredging of the major waterways in the city.

“Magsugod na sad mig clearing sa three-meter easement. Naa gyoy maapektuhan nga mga houses so ato pang tan-awn nga mabalhin sila kay giensure man gyod sa atong mayor nga kinahanglan silag kapuy-an,” said Carillo.

He said at least 14,000 to 18,000 individuals will be affected by the reclaiming of the three-meter easement.

The mayor has instructed the purchase of 200 units of van housing to be installed at the South Road Properties as relocation for the affected households.

It must also be noted that the affected households for the river-widening activities are the priority in the distribution of units of the Lorega Socialized Housing project, which will be turned over to the city on June 29. /rcg