MY memory is still fresh about the extensive flood in Iloilo City in 2008. I was in my home in the CPU Centennial Village in barangay Aganan, Pavia. One morning, I was about to go to the city. But I went back to my house upon seeing a powerful surge coming to my place.
The sight was disturbing. The water was only angle-deep, but it slowly rose until it reached my waist. It was the first time a major flood occured since I was a freshman at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in 1990.
Neighbors who only had one floor came hoping to come up to my home’s second floor.
Over ten people died from that tragedy. The flood destroyed part of our Centennial Village’s fence. That was how strong it was.
It took several weeks to clean the mess.
From that time on, the city of Iloilo built the Iloilo Flood Control project. It was the largest infrastructure project ever done with a budget of P4.3 billion.
Here in Tagbilaran and surrounding areas, the situation is no different. Students and employees cannot ride their way to school or their offices because of floods. Suddenly, people wade in leptospirosis-prone dirt. Suddenly, their documents and goods are damaged.
We can expect that an unannounced extensive flood will come like that in Iloilo.
I always hear from radio interviews that our flood problem cannot be resolved easily because the affected areas are private properties. This is partly true.
There are several public places in Tagbilaran which still endure this problem. And for how long?
Based on observation, houses near the Blind Center in Tamblot Street get submerged when rain falls for a few minutes. Clearly, the water comes from the road. People had to either stop going to their offices or wear boots. Establishments near the University of Bohol experience the same ordeal. The houses in these locations have made cement flood blocks in front of their buildings, about one and a half feet.
The city has other places where people suffer from floods. But what should the city government do?
It is time to stop saying that floods only happen in private places because if one fact checks the problem, this is not completely true. The root of the problem is we have built a city that did not include basic urban planning.
Is there a stronger argument why this problem occurs?
A city that lacks urban planning is like building a house and ignoring a comfort room. If this is a good practice, how can the resident of this house endure always going out to a neighbor or his backyard to poop? Can the resident still think of putting in sculptures and paintings to make the interiors sparkle with awe? Can the resident still think of buying Kenneth Cobonpue’s furniture for the sala? The lesson: a house cannot be considered a house without a comfort room.
Similarly, a city cannot be a city without a flood control project.
This is now time to start our city’s flood control project. There is no other way. All other plans are like noodles for calamity victims. Noodles kill; yet people are getting more complex intellectually.
They no longer accept do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions for their problems in return for their taxes.
If the city puts up its flood control project, the aims should be to improve living environments and sanitary conditions of residents, and consequently help develop the local economy, by setting in place disaster prevention civil works in the city.
I admire mayor Baba Yap for his good governance in the city. He is the first mayor to have given me hope that public governance is not anymore synonymous with perfunctory and ostensible service. He has done a lot for the city. Actually, I voted for him in the last two elections since I stayed in my home city for good. (You can ask COMELEC for my voting records.)
Please tell our most likely mayor-to-be, Jane Yap, that we should have a flood control project.
