Sunday, December 16, 2007 3 of 10 Lapu houses lack toilets
THOUSANDS of households in Lapu-Lapu City do not have sanitary toilets.
The City Health Office is worried about how this can affect the health of residents and the environment, if the City Government does not come up with a solution soon.
Vice Mayor Mario Amores admitted they have long been informed of the problem and it is only now that they have agreed on a solution, which is to negotiate with private landowners for the construction of a communal toilet in their property or build one in every barangay.
About 30.56 percent of the 45,845 households (or 14,011 households) in the city do not have a sanitary toilet. The figure was determined during a survey by City Hall personnel last year.
The problem was expected to have worsened as the population grew this year to 275,074 with more people settling in the area, especially those who work at the Mactan Economic Zone.
Informal settlers or makeshift houses make up about one-fourth of those that have no toilets, numbering 3,743.
Budget
“It has been our problem, because the lot owners objected to our offer to build communal toilets for the residents’ convenience and health and the protection of their properties’ environment. But with our growing population, maybe we will have to push it harder,” Amores said.
He said the approved P12.04-million supplemental budget for the development fund in last Wednesday’s session includes allocations for health and sanitary projects.
The amount was endorsed by Mayor Arturo Radaza and approved en masse by the City Council.
“We were criticized for uncollected garbage…samot na kon makita sa atong mga critics nga atong mga tawo nagdischarge sa bisan asang dapit kay wala’y available nga toilet (more so if our critics see that residents use their surroundings to answer the call of nature),” Amores said. (AIV)
