Some of the garbage that was taken from the manhole near Lopez Jaena St. in Barangay Tipolo, Mandaue City, during the desilting and declogging operations conducted by the City Engineering Office and DPWH Sixth Engineering Office last May 29. / Photo: Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — Around 200,000 kilograms of garbage were collected from the cleanup drives of Mandaue City’s 27 barangays over two months.
Archt. Aracelli Barlam, head of the Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office, said that the regular clean-up drives have helped with the city’s flooding problem.
“Dako na kaayo na siya nga volume atoang nadivert kay if wala pa na nila nakuha, naa na na sa sapa, kanal eventually sa dagat. So that’s a big help from the barangays. I hope kana nga effort padayunon pana siya para makahelp prevent sa baha pod,” said Barlam.
The clean-up drives of the city’s 27 barangays have been conducted every week since April, as ordered by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in line with the Kalinisan sa Bagong Pilipinas Program.
Barlam said that most of the garbage collected were single-use plastics. These are aside from the daily garbage collection of the city.
Mayor Jonas Cortes said that tons of garbage have also been collected from the continuous dredging and clearing operations of manholes and drainage systems.
In line with this, Cortes is encouraging residents to throw their trash properly, as these may block the drainages and prevent water from flowing smoothly, causing overflow and flooding.
On Sunday, a few sitios from the 12 barangays experienced flooding, wherein a total of 93 families were evacuated, said Buddy Alain Ybañez, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).
The city immediately met with the Department of Public Works and Highways, together with the City Engineering Office, Housing and Urban Development Office, and CDDRMO on Monday to discuss how to move forward with the implementation of projects.
Ocleasa said that some of the flood-prone areas of the city, especially along national roads, still have ongoing projects.
“We need to adjust sa implementation, there are certain designs that needs to be adjust, coordinate with private partners, kay there are properties nga owned by private. The good thing with our meeting yesterday it was more on the technical aspect, we discussed solutions rather than what are the problems and that is a goo indicator that we are moving forward sa implementation based sa drainage master plan of the city,” said Ocleasa.
Mandaue and Cebu City are also set to start Beyond Borders 3 around the third quarter of this year. Beyond Borders was initiated by Mandaue for a joint rehabilitation of the Butuanon and Mahiga Rivers that traverse their cities. The upstream areas are located in Cebu City, while the downstream areas are in Mandaue City.
This is one of the programs being considered as one of the solutions to the flooding problems.
Mayor Jonas Cortes said they would also strictly implement the city’s ordinance regarding the installation of catch basins in establishments. This is said to help rainwater from going to the streets.
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