CEBU City Mayor Edgardo Labella is eyeing an interim solution to the longtime flooding problem in Sitio Paradise 3, Barangay Kinasang-an: Set up a siphon to draw off flood waters from the area.
A siphon is a tube bent to form two legs of unequal length so that liquid can be transferred from a reservoir down to a lower level.
Following a visit to the barangay, Labella noted that the matter needed to be solved even while waiting for the long-term solution which is the construction of a drainage system that may require the expropriation of private lots.
“These problems were there several years ago and we really have to do something about it,” Labella said.
“The City will have to exercise its function and then the general welfare (clause) again, expropriate properties just to be able to solve this problem after payment of just compensation,” Labella added.
The City Legal Office is forming a team of three lawyers to look into the possibility of expropriating the private lots that will be affected by the project.
Residents of Sitio Paradise 3 earlier appealed to barangay and city officials to address flooding in their area which has led to a high incidence of dengue and leptospirosis that already reportedly claimed the lives of four children in their neighborhood.
Labella also went to Sitio Tabucanal in Pardo and Barangay Talamban where flooding also occurs.
“In the case of Tabucanal, I think it would criss-cross private properties. That’s why we really have to talk with private owners,” said Labella. (Mae Fhel Gom-os, USJ-R Intern)