A declaration of commitment signed last week by Mayors Michael Rama, Jonas Cortes and Johnny V. delos Reyes of Cebu City, Mandaue City and Talisay City, with Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III may be a “motherhood agreement” as described by Cebu City Legal Officer Jerone Castillo, but it’s still significant enough for Metro Cebu residents to hold them to it.
Starting actual work on building an interdependent drainage system that can handle the annual flooding experienced by Metro Cebu’s local government units (LGUs) is something that is two decades worth of waiting if one were to use the 1995 Integrated Drainage Master Plan made by experts of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Rama got the ball rolling with a November 2014 inter-city drainage summit. The declaration will hopefull stir execution of projects and programs that will be reviewed by the respective city councils.
Aside from revisiting the 1995 drainage master plan, there’s also the proposal to complete a feasibility study for a Lusaran Dam that the officials hope to finish before the end of the year.
Can Cebu LGUs turn their pledge into concrete reality?
The answer lies in their ability to stir up enough political will and galvanzie public support behind them.
Cebu officials can give a host of reasons behind the two-decade long failure to implement the integrated drainage master plan.
The usual excuse is lack of funding.
Closer to the truth is lack of political will, and the toxic combination of egos and mistrust.
Over the years, the neglect to execute the master plan has been reinforced by the wacky change in weather patterns, which has brought on fiercer storms.
The population has grown, urban settlements have become more crowded.
The culture of wasteful consumption, a throw-away society that discards used materials faster than we can protect the environment that produces raw materials, has caught up with us.
This year’s batch of officials have so far not shown any long-lasting antagonism towards each other—though Rama and Cortes got into a tussle over how each of their cities handled the Mahiga Creek flooding problem.
Perhaps this recent pact will hold.
Regardless of their political fortunes—Cortes is on his last term, Rama, JVR and Davide appear to be facing formidable foes—the commitment to build a sound drainage system is a cornerstone towards strengthening Metro Cebu and improving the welfare of its residents.
It’s up to civil society and the rest of the community to hold them to their promise of change.