Provincial Board Member Glenn Anthony Soco. (PNA file photo)
CEBU CITY – A provincial government official on Tuesday appealed to the national government to fund the Metro Cebu Integrated Drainage Master Plan (MCIDMP) that was hatched at the height of flooding incidents in Metro Cebu in 2016.
Provincial Board member Glenn Anthony Soco said floodings in Metro Cebu, particularly in villages at the shared borders between the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, could have been addressed long before if there was enough budget.
“Based on the testimony of the PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration), the rainfall is really beyond normal,” Soco told reporters.
Soco, however, said rains nowadays are getting worse, citing places that have no history of flooding in the past but are now reeling with inundation.
Projects seen to solve flooding, like cleaning causeways, canals, and river systems as well as managing the upstream waterways, are not being taken care of due to funding issues, he said.
Soco said in 2017, the national government allocated an initial fund of PHP700 million and another PHP1.2 billion in 2018.
Since 2019, the national government stopped allocating funds for the MCIDMP until the temporary stoppage of government projects due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the projects included in the master plan are cleaning and desilting of main rivers in Metro Cebu, including the Mahiga Creek, which is shared by both Cebu and Mandaue; and construction of water catchment and drainage system.
In Cebu City, Mayor Michael Rama earlier said a team from the city government will inspect a mall and a golf course following complaints that they blocking waterways. (PNA)
