IF YOU look at the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards map for Cebu City, all of its 16 coastal barangays show up redder than holidays and Sundays in a drugstore calendar. Red being the universal color for danger, hazards, and emergencies.
From Mabolo, to Carreta, to Tejero, to Tinago, to San Roque, to Sto. Nino, to Ermita, to Pasil, to Suba, to Sawang Calero, to Duljo-Fatima, to Mambaling, to Basak-San Nicolas, to Basak-Pardo, to Cogon-Pardo, and to Inayawan, north to south. Red.
The type of hazard varies. Some barangays are prone to storm surges, others are prone to flooding and some others are prone to both.
This should not be surprising for three reasons. One, the city’s coastline is low-lying. Two, seven of the eight rivers in Cebu City exit to sea via five points all located in the coastline. Three, decades of human activities have obstructed, constricted and aggraded our rivers and creeks.
The most concrete example would be the flooding that happened last July 16, Wednesday, when it rained six hours in Cebu City and neighboring areas.
Though Pagasa only logged about 17mm of rain, it triggered 19 flood incidents, including in the coastline barangays of Cogon-Pardo, where flooding left 263 people homeless, and Tejero, where videos posted on social media had people wading in waist-deep in floodwater.
Other low-lying corridors were also flooded, including Colon St. and Junquera Ext. People immediately took to social media to post videos of the flood mixed with audio from the viral “Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday” that’s been used over a million times on TikTok.
But memes aside, the 17mm of rain that dropped on July 16 was nothing compared to the monsoon and storm-driven downpours in between 2022–2024, where passing cyclones dumped up to 150mm of rain in two days. What transpired in the monsoon seasons from 2022 to 2024, and why was flooding less intense then?
First some context. The three factors that contributed to the flooding of June 16 -- topography, our river systems and the constriction and obstruction of these waterways, particularly downstream and near the outflow -- have long been observed.
These were documented again during the 1st Cebu City Rivers Summit that was held sometime in June of 2022. The event, organized by mayor Mike Rama, sought to identify “low lying fruits” that could immediately address existing concerns.
Two months later, Rama created the Task Force Gubat sa Baha to address obstruction of rivers and easement and support the gains of the River Troopers, a 2020 project that aims to desilt the city’s rivers and creeks and prevent obstruction by installing and maintaining homegrown devices called “trash traps”.
Both the task force and the River Troopers are composed largely of job order personnel and a few others with casual appointments.
The 1st Cebu City Waterfront Development Conference, held last May 11 and 12, 2023 by then vice mayor and Waterfront Development Commission chairman Raymond Garica, also identified the same three factors, among other findings.
It built consensus on ways forward for problem areas not yet addressed, like pushing for and investing on better solid waste management, relocating settlers outside of critical coastal areas, and jumpstarting sound coastal resource management programs that mitigate risks.
When Garcia became acting mayor in May of 2024, and following his full ascension to office in October of the same year, he took steps to execute the consensus reached during the Waterfront Development Conference.
The existing but unimplemented “no-segregation-no-collection” policy fine-tuned by having it piloted in eight barangays, and then sought reforms in the disposal side of the city’s solid waste management chain to support the mainstreaming of segregation-at-home.
He also kept Rama’s Task Force Gubat sa Baha and River Trooper programs alive; retaining all employees of the two programs and supporting it by renting mechanized desilting machines to unclog narrow riverbeds and obtaining funding to update the city’s drainage master plan.
He also realigned resources to support programs of the Coastline Management Board and the Rivers Management Council, and institutionalized the “trash trap” program of the River Troopers through an Executive Order.
In a July 25, 2024 interview, while still two months into his stint as mayor, and with the city under the looming threat of super typhoon Carina, Garcia identified short, medium and long-term strategies to flooding.
These involved clearing and desilting operations as short-term interventions and building gabion and water retention dams upland for the medium to long-term solutions. (Continued).