Editorial of the Bohol Chronicle January 6, 2008
Written by Bingo P. Dejaresco III
The Tagbilaran City residents are a concern of all - city,
district and provincial officials.
The Tagbilaranons helped all of them get into their seats of
power. When the city woes goes from minor to major, there should
be no pinpointing. They are -by the public trust placed on them -
expected to cooperate, not bicker -as to how to help solve the
day-to-day problem of Juan de la Cruz.
The nightmare that follows in the flooding of low-lying areas in
the city after a downpour -has raised the decibels of city
protests reaching heaven. If nothing is done pronto- the situation
is going to get worse before it becomes better.
First, there was an engineering problem in elevating and
cementing the huge CPG Avenue (first) even before the drainage
outfalls initially designed for Cogon and Taloto were in place.
Who will assume responsibility for designing the PERT-CPM
(schedules and time tables, in layman terms) for the Project?
First District Congressman Edgar Chatto had already released the P
28-Million initial budget of the Project.
The second engineering fiasco was the apparent under-estimation of
the Drainage Outfall cost since there were no local construction
takers that caused the delay of the project. The civil works
contract was, in fact, only finally awarded just this December 27
- and the DPWH "promised" to finish the drainage by this month
(January). Who could be the incompetent Project engineer who made
the initial faulty estimate? Now the public has to suffer due to
the delay.
Second, the blame should fall likewise squarely on the shoulders of
the City Mayor Dan Lim or the City Executive Department because it
failed to enforce an ordinance passed by the Sangunniang Panglungsod
last June 2007 (sponsored by Kag Oscar Glovasa) prohibiting the
illegal connection of households and commercial establishments into
the newly constructed drainage system along CPG Avenue and V Inting
Streets. The City Mayor should throw the book at these 30 or so
names already published and aired over this twin-media enterprise as
illegal waste disposers in the city.
A team to be headed by officers of the City Health and City Engineers
Office was to make the investigation into these violations and
recommended the penalties and sanctions as provided by law. What
happened?
Because of this wanton neglect, when the rains came, the whole
caboodle of rainwater and waste matters overflowed from the drainage
and spilled into the streets and homes. Now we complain. But the
waste we throw to the environment improperly will come back to pester
us -as the inevitable law of karma decrees.
You burn forests (kaingin), you suffer floods and landslides and
have no more lumber and vegetation to stop pollution.You throw
garbage recklessly, you get flooding in the streets. You fish
wantonly and illegally, the fish catch will dwindle over the years.
As simple as that.
The City Engineers Office has offered to open a small canal,
firetrucks to drain excess water during rain and gravel to serve as
barriers to floodwaters. These are clearly palliatives - applying
band aids to stop a gangrenous wound.
The Office of the City Mayor Dan Lim should go hammer and tongs
against these violators. It is after all consistent with the spirit
of his rule "polluters pay principle" that those environmental
violators should pay for their waste neglect.
The City Mayor is expected to keep his ears open to the pleas of his
constituents -and this is a matter that believe-you-us raises the
hackles of city residents and raise their temperatures without the
benefit of libidinal scenes.
The City Mayor is looked upon as "the father of the city" who must look for
solutions and not join in the blame -tossing in issues that obviously annoy even
those who voted him to office.
Assuming the DPWH meets its deadline to finish the drainage outfall by
end-January, without the city waste-water treatment that City Mayor
Lim had time and again committed to erect, these illegally plugged
industrial and home waste dumpers (without their own waste-treatment
units) will not be allowed to use the city drainage and the outfalls
- only to pollute the radiant blue seawaters in Tagbilaran Bay. That
is why a City Waste Water treatment facility is immensely important.
Failure to install one will be insult to injury - the other
collateral casualty being tourism, the province's flagship industry.
In his recent "Mayor's Report" , City Mayor Lim had outlined his
program under the Integrated Water and Waste Water System. That
includes a three-part solution: equalizer pond, treatment of
rainwater and waste water treatment.
The equalizer route will regulate the volume of water water going to
outfalls while a tank will capture rainwater and treat it to become
converted potable water. That is estimated to cost P 8-Million.
The larger project: the waste water treatment costs between P
30-80 Million (hard to determine if we do not have the specifics
of the facility). City Mayor Lim figures , the project can run up
to P 100-Million which is being negotiated with a bank to obtain
financing through a loan facility -that is why it was not in the
2008 Budget, according to the City Mayor. Fiscal-wise, he said,
the project will be partly self-financing - from the fees to be
paid by those who will use the drainage facilities for their waste
matter..
However if the City - both Executive and Legislative - is serious in
getting that loan, did it appropriate at least the payment of interest
for such loan within the year 2008? If it is not there, then there is
clearly no intent to secure the waste water treatment facility within
the year. Let's not delude the public any longer then.
Without politicizing the issue, City Mayor Lim and Vice Mayor Veloso
(who once headed the Appropriations Committee) should be honest with
the city residents: are we serious in erecting that waste water
treatment facility in 2008 or not? If not this year, when?
Considering the seriousness of the growing flooding and pollution
problems in the city, it behooves these top city officials to be
forthright and lay the cards on the table.
Governor Rico Aumentado broke his silence on the matter -after the
intensity of the citizen complaints - and volunteered together with
Congressman Chatto to intercede up the President's level to help
solve the problem. "The city government must cooperate, especially
if it does not have the resources to implement the project.", the
Governor said.
Clearly then, when the welfare of the city residents are in jeopardy
- the demarcation lines dividing political geography and political
affiliations should be erased.
There may be a need therefore for the governor, the congressman and
the city mayor to think together - then act separately.
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