PROTESTORS DEMAND ACTION, REFUSE TO HEAR EXPLANATION

BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

Visayan Daily Star

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The convenors of the Bacolod Anti-Baha Alliance yesterday demanded action from Bacolod City officials and refused to listen to their explanation on steps they have taken to act on the flooding problem in the city.

The group also staged a caravan around the city before the City Sanggunian session started that involved about a hundred vehicles.

Meanwhile, City Legal Officer Allan Zamora issued notices of eviction yesterday to 35 families in Barangay Banago, whose structures obstruct the dredging work being undertaken by the city to address the flooding problem.

In a privilege speech during the Sangguniang Panlungsod session, Agnes Jalandoni said their primary purpose was merely to deliver their “humble but violent plea” to finally put into action all that had been promised them by the city, when Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson referred them to Councilor Roberto Rojas for an update on the action taken by the city.

Jalandoni said they don't want the same promises given to them in the past. She said they want to see action first and until that time, “we refuse to listen to any proposal until one creek is cleared and it is to the satisfaction of the residents in that area”.

Sayson told the group that they were able to address their concerns and even approved a P10 million budget to start the dredging works. “We are attending to your needs. It might be a little bit slow, considering the government accounting policies that we have to face, but we are doing something,” he said.
Jalandoni said “You asked us to vote for you and we voted for you. It's time for us to tell you and request you because we voted for you.”
She also reminded the city officials that when they came to City Hall in March 2007 they swore that if somebody dies because of the flood, all of them will be held to blame.

From the session hall, the group met with Mayor Evelio Leonardia who invited them to a meeting in City Hall today.

In his letter to the BAHA group dated Nov. 14, Leonardia said the Bacolod City Flood Control Coordinating Action Team has mobilized resources of both the city and the Department of Public Works and Highways and has started implementing action plans.

He said integration of plans as well as resources from government and all community sectors is direly needed now. More importantly, synergy of all their potential capabilities is most important, he said.
Leonardia invited the group and all its members to join the city in its implementation of emergency measures and long-term solutions to the flooding problem in Bacolod City .

Councilor Roberto Rojas, who heads the action team, also invited the BAHA group to the clean-up drive the city is conducting together with the DPWH and the Amity group along the waterways of Brgy. Bata to Purok Riverside in Banago today. He said they need the cooperation of everybody if the flooding problem is to be resolved.

The clean-up drive is part of the city's flood control action plan which include the relocation of the 35 houses in Banago, the dredging of the Banago Creek and Mandalagan River , among others.

Leonardia has also requested the SP to allocate P1.5 million for the dredging of the 500 meter floodway project of the DPWH in Purok Riverside that will divert the flow of water from the main creek so it will not pass the Sta. Clara Subdivision. The floodway project is a stretch of 800 meters, but the DPWH budget is only good for 300 meters.

“We have done our share and we have taken concrete actions,” Leonardia said. He said the Bacolod Housing Authority has also identified 30 slots at the Vista Alegre-Ganada (Abada Escay) relocation site for the squatter families in Banago who will be affected by the demolition.

Executive Assistant to the Mayor Joemarie Vargas said Leonardia had a drainage master plan during his first term as mayor but this was not implemented because his term ended. He said the Sta. Clara homeowners had also promised to furnish the city their drainage master plan.*CGS