Thursday, June 05, 2008 CH team to check on barangays
THE Cebu City Hall is sending engineers to mountain barangays Pamutan and Sapangdaku to evaluate how to effectively address the problem of soil movement.
This after landslides blocked roads and isolated Pamutan most of the day last Monday.
“We will have the area assessed to see if slope protection or cross-drainage is needed to prevent another landslide from happening,” said City Councilor Gerardo Carillo.
The councilor is the City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC) action officer.
The landslide in Pamutan that buried a portion of the road going to the barangay from neighboring Toong had sandbags serving as slope protection placed on the side of a hill, which was carved up to make way for the road.
Landslides
But rain soaked up the hill’s loose soil and caused portion to collapse on the road Monday morning.
The same happened in Sapangdaku last Saturday; as of yesterday afternoon, boulders and rocks still littered the road, which was already passable, said Barangay Captain Henreo Labra.
He and other Sapangdaku officials used shovels and rolled boulders down the side of the road just so vehicles could pass through the road Monday afternoon.
Labra went to the City Hall yesterday to follow-up on his request for a bulldozer to completely clear the road, as there were huge rocks that they could not move.
Also, at the coastal barangay of Suba this morning, at least 55 structures will be torn down by the City’s Squatters Prevention, Encroachment Elimination Division (Speed) for failing to observe the required Guadalupe River three-meter easement.
Under the Water Code of the Philippines, a three-meter easement on both banks of the river in an urban area should be maintained for public use.
Presidential Decree 296 likewise prohibits encroachment on rivers, creeks, esteros, drainage channels and other waterways.
Serious degradation
Aside from protecting the Guadalupe River, which is believed to be in “serious degradation,” the Coastal Management Board led by Vice Mayor Michael Rama also would like to protect occupants from flashfloods and overflowing river when it rains.
Speed Chief Vicente Mercado told Sun.Star Cebu that the demolition has long been overdue, as Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s order was issued last April 22 yet.
He said the occupants had long been warned that their homes will be torn down.
He clarified, however, that if only a portion juts out and encroaches into the easement, the whole structure will not be destroyed.
Mercado said they have scheduled another demolition due to easement violation in Sitio Kadaohan, barangay Talambon on June 10.
But the three owners, he said, promised to dismantle their structures themselves. (RHM)
