Monday, May 28, 2007
Carillo wants to revive case on death of family
NINE months after six persons, including three children, drowned when Sindulan River in Barangay Mabolo overflowed last year, no one has been held responsible for their deaths yet.
Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said he hasn’t received any update yet on the investigation. He said he will check with the City Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Building Official.
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The request to investigate the incident came from his office.
The victims drowned after the river flooded the basement where they were staying. They couldn’t escape since a collapsed fence blocked their exit.
According to the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CCDCC), the flooding was caused by a culvert that was too small to accommodate the surging water. The water back-flowed as a result.
Motel
Residents and barangay officials blamed a motel nearby for reducing the number of exit culverts to just one instead of two.
Following the incident, the CCDCC identified 2,653 houses in 35 barangays as being in a “danger zones” because they encroached or were built on riverbanks and creeks.
Of the CCDCC list, 1,693 houses are in the north district, the most number of which are in Mabolo with 238, followed by Sitio Laguerta in Barangay Lahug with P174; Camputhaw, 144; Banilad, 133; Tinago and Pahina Central, 128. Other houses are in Talamban, six; Bacayan, 59; Capitol Site, 69; Calamba, 82; Carreta, 64; Sambag II, 82; Ermita, 43; Apas, 19; Tejero, 78; Lorega, 45; Sambag 165; Kasambagan, 33; T. Padilla, 54; and San Jose, eight.
Relocation sites
For the south, 162 are in Buhisan; Inayawan, 124; Bulacao, 111; Guadalupe, 96; Duljo-Fatima, 81; Pasil, 79; Tisa, 77; Kalunasan, 51; Sapangdaku, 46; Labangon, 37; San Nicolas Proper, 32; Duljo-Fatima, 28; Pahina San Nicolas, 19; and Punta Princesa, 17.
But the City lacked relocation sites for the affected families.
Carillo, City Hall action officer and chairman on council committee on social services, said his office is releasing a set of guidelines that residents should observe during emergency situations now that the rainy season is about to start.
He said the City might employ its “balik probinsya program” on residents living in danger zones.
The program was originally applied to mendicants whom the City Government provided with fare and pocket money so they could go back home to the province.
The program, he said, helped reduce the number of beggars and street children in the City. (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 28, 2007 issue)
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