Clearing our waterways

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

House Bill 4938, authored by AGHAM party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones, seeks to ban the construction of houses along riverbanks and waterways to prevent severe flooding in urban areas by imposing a fine of P50,000 and imprisonment of six months on barangay captains who allow the building of shanties along waterways in urban areas.

The bill also mandates the Metro Manila Development Authority and local government units to demolish all existing houses or shanties found along waterways in urban areas. Only shanties built 10 meters away from the shoreline of waterways will be allowed. Citing the study of the Department of Science and Technology, Palmones noted that severe flooding caused by the blocking of waterways by houses killed thousands in Ormoc City, Leyte on November 6, 1991 and he also drew attention to the devastation caused in Metro Manila by typhoon “Ondoy” in 2009.

Congress should not have to tell local government units how to control the construction of houses and shanties along shorelines and waterways. One look at any of the riverbanks and waterways of any urban area in the country will tell us that it is about time the national government stepped in. Riverbanks and waterways have always been attractive to the informal settlers who flock to urban areas because they are public domain, which means that, as long as nobody tells them otherwise, they can do whatever they want there; and there is also the added advantage of access to free sewage facilities to those who build their shanties along those areas.

The problem is, these informal structures clog and pollute our waterways, making our cities susceptible to flooding every time it rains. Numerous half-baked efforts to clear urban waterways have been undertaken but the settlers always manage to come back as soon as the authorities turn their back, and resume playing blind once the floods have subsided and the outcry forgotten.

Hopefully our local government officials do not wait for a devastating flood or for their counterparts in Congress to create bills requiring them to clear our waterways of illegal settlers because we do not need another law for them to enforce what is patently obvious. Shanties along our waterways should not be there because they pose a constant danger to their occupants and increase the risk of catastrophic floods inundating the cities we live in.*