Barangay task force eyed to help ease flooding in Mandaue

Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes meets on October 15 with barangay captains to discuss measures to ease the flooding in their barangays. | CDN Digitial — Mary Rose Sagarino

MANDAUE CIY, Cebu — Barangay captains in Mandaue City especially those in barangays along the Butuanon and Mahiga rivers were tasked to create a task force to monitor their respective danger zones or flood-prone areas.

Lawyer Lizer Malate, the city’s Emergency Operations Center head, said in an interview on October 16 that this was one of the measures that was agreed upon during the October 15 emergency meeting called by Mayor Jonas Cortes with barangay captains and other department heads.

Read: Mayor Cortes to meet with village chiefs to discuss clearing of settlers in ‘danger zones’

“It’s basically an agreement of coordination nga sa barangay mismo kahibaw sila unsa ila role…Mao to’y na come up nga naay combined task force, local from the barangay then naa pod ta, ato’ng DRRMO nga aduna silay point of contact for coordination,” Malate said.

(It’s basically an agreement of coordination that the barangay officials, themselves, know what their roles are…That is why they came up with the combined task force, local from the barangays, then we also have one — our DRRMO that have a point of contact for coordination.)

Mayor Cortes called the meeting for the October 15 meeting to discuss how to address the flooding problems in the city and the consistent unprecedented increase in the water volume of the floods that affect plenty of people.

Read: Flood, landslide affect 2,802 individuals in Mandaue

Another measure agreed upon is that schools would be prepared as evacuation centers.

Lizer said that the city would continue to clear informal settlers living in the riverbanks of the two rivers.

He said that this would be done so that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) could continue with the flood control projects such as building retaining walls and desilting of the rivers, to deepen and widen them.

Meanwhile, Malate also asked the residents to throw and segregate their garbage properly so this could not clog the canals if they would throw them anywhere.

“Sama sa pagkontra nato sa COVID-19 whole of city, nation approach jud na magtinabangay,” he said.

“Mao na ato’ng hangyo no sa mga katawhan nga simple as proper solid waste management nila could really help the city. Kung ang siyudad lang magsige’g kawot, magsige’g kuan sa drainage unya ang basura diha gihapon, walay disiplina. It’s the same thing, it will be a cycle of pointing fingers,” Malate said.

(That is our appeal to the people that as simple as their proper solid waste management could really help the city. If it would be the city to always dredge, to always clean the drainage but the garbage is still there, and then the people have no discipline. It’s the same thing, it will be a cycle of pointing fingers.)

/dbs