Quarrying and flooding

Ben  Contreras

PEOPLE were having Christmas parties despite the strong wind and heavy rain. In the middle of it, my wife called up to say, “Nag-brownout sa balay.” That was reason enough for me to cut short my stay and went home. It was easy to fall asleep when there’s no electricity.

In the middle of the night, I was awakened by a call. I was told that a relative and his family were already on the roof of their home as the floodwater rose. The water nearly reached the roof of their house.  Alas, the river overflowed, flooding many areas.

We were glued to radio reports as we were also trapped by high water in the street. Early in the morning, I received this message: “Your fear came last night.” That was Typhoon Sendong in late 2011 when thousands lost their lives and millions of pesos in property were destroyed.

Sendong was Dongkoy Emano’s waterloo. Some officials then were into illegal mining. Barge-like mining facilities were seen mushrooming in the city. The city government then denied their existence until one got stuck under a small bridge in Iponan.

Oscar Moreno came to power not because the people needed him but because the people wanted to get rid of Dongkoy, only to find out after three months in office that Moreno is no different from his predecessor.

If during the time of Dongkoy, illegal mining was the money-making extracurricular activity, it’s illegal quarrying now during Moreno’s administration. The DENR has been a silent partner to this.

The writ of kalikasan became a joke, or so it seems. It didn’t help in putting a stop to illegal quarrying because those who are supposed to do the job are either sitting on their job or, in some way, are in cahoots with them.

No amount of reports and postings on Facebook has been enough to merit action from the DENR. If there was any, it must have been just for a show.

Last Monday’s flashflood caught everyone with their pants down. I left Centrio after a movie at approximately 2:45 pm and was taken aback by the water at the basement where more than a hundred cars were parked. Moving out toward Corrales Avenue, I realized that it was raining heavily. The road from Ayala to Divisoria was ankle-deep. I knew it was a bad sign, and so I opted to just go home.

I knew something bad was taking place. The rest is history. Only this time, it’s different–it’s worse than before and who knows what’s next.

I have shunned invitations of Philippine Information Agency (PIA) after losing my appetite for writing. But when this invitation was sent to me that Rep. Maxie Rodriguez and DPWH would be talking about the recent flood and how to prevent another, I thought I need to be there and perhaps, write about it. Yes, it is time to be back.

DPWH intends to make a drainage large enough that would accommodate two jeepneys. It’s going to cost P200 million and three years to finish. That means, we, the people will have to endure another three years of flooding before we get that project done with no guarantee that it would work.

The intention may be good but to me, it looks like improving the cure but ignoring the disease: logging, mining and quarrying and the people’s penchant to throw garbage just about anywhere.

Not so long ago, from the so-called “Noah” project, we came to learn that rainwater from Mt. Kitanglad and Mt. Kalatungan flow down to eight tributaries that funnel down to our Cagayan River. The volume of water during Sendong was too much for our river that it overflowed. If there was flooding then in the areas were we had last Monday, it was not as bad comparatively. But why did it happen and why so much water?

Illegal and unregulated quarrying seems to have altered the original flow route of the rivers. Reports and warnings  were ignored including photos Dr. Bob Ocio personally took and posted on Facebook, calling the attention not only of the office of DENR in Region 10, Clenro and the city government but also our Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, all but in vain.

If there won’t be an overhaul of DENR Region 10, if those into quarrying known to be politicians are allowed to continue, if we continue to be complacent, the worst is yet to come. As reported, there would be more heavy rains.

It was past 6 pm when I went home from a meeting that didn’t materialize. The sight of a seemingly empty highway was eerie. The fear continues. Until when, who knows? And when the rain pours heavy on your roof, God forbid!