Monday, April 07, 2008 Landslides prod call to declare calamity
CEBU City Councilor Gerardo Carillo wants all mountain barangays declared as calamity areas because of landslides caused by incessant rains during the early part of this year.
So many damaged roads, especially those not paved in concrete, need to be repaired as soon as possible.
Alvin Santillana, the councilor’s executive officer, said one such barangay is Guba, which has several roads that should be attended to immediately.
Cebu City has 35 rural barangays, which are mostly mountainous and usually have unpaved or dirt roads.
Early this year, rains caused landslides and cave-ins, damaging roads and slowing down commerce and trade, particularly the transport of farm produce from the mountains.
“The continuous downpour…during the early part of this year resulted to landslides, causing damage to road infrastructure,” Carillo said.
In a proposed measure, he said that to avert possible loss of lives and properties, the City must immediately repair the roads.
For the City to tap its calamity funds for such purpose, the City Council must declare the affected barangays as under a state of calamity.
Last February, the city council placed the entire city under a “state of continuing calamity” after learning that deaths due to dengue fever last January were four times higher than the number in the same period in 2007.
With the declaration, the council tapped the City Government’s P87-million calamity funds for emergency and disaster response.
The declaration also paved the way for using the same fund for several other projects, including road repair work and purchase of heavy equipment that were supposedly made last year yet.
Carillo, the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council action officer, said the calamity fund, which represents five percent of the annual revenue from regular sources, will help in the relief and rehabilitation of the roads damaged this year. (RHM)
