DAVAO CITY—Regional Director Ednar Dayanghirang, Office of the Civil Defense-Xi has said that the drainage system is one of the primary causes of the flooding problem in the region.
“Ang na-observe nako as the regional director (RD) is that bisag wala tay LPA, wala tay typhoon nagabaha ang Davao region we have seen that since Dec. 18 that is very relevant data or facts we are facing now,” the OCD-XI chief said.
(I observed that even if we have no Low-Pressure Area, we have no typhoon the Davao Region gets flooded)
Dayanghirang said that after the December 18 flooding in Davao del Norte he conducted a field investigation and visited the barangays. It was followed by more field visits after the flooding on December 22 and 26.
“I visited the five provinces and I found out that even if we have no typhoon, no tropical storm, no shear line the flooding is caused by drainage problems. Massive as in massive,” Dayanghirang said.
He also said that in one area the design of the canal was faulty.
“The canal led the water to the community, instead of diverting it away,” Dayanghirang said.
In Barangay Bato, Sta Cruz Davao del Sur, a flooding rendered the national highway impassable for hours.
“We saw the national road had a canal, but that canal was clogged,” he said.
He said in the past ITCZ (inter-tropical convergence zone) normally didn’t pose a problem but now it has led to floods.
In last year’s flood summit held in Tagum City, they received 900 plus proposals for flood prevention and mitigation from the local government units across Davao Region and endorsed them to the Regional Development Council for funding.
However Dayanghirang noticed that these proposals were incomplete as the LGUs just included four or five barangays as they feared not all proposals would be funded – thus, they chose the more important barangays.
“My target is to visit 1,200 barangays. I already talked to Gov. Dotdot (Dorothy Montejo Gonzaga) of Davao de Oro. 10 municipalities I already have the data. This time the Barangay Captain na jud kaatubang nako (I will be facing the barangay captains),” Dayanghirang said.
He added that the drainage problem needs a collaborative approach not just from the local government but also to the people.
“You have your own stake; we have our own responsibility and what is this? It’s garbage because we didn’t just find silt and rock in the canal but also garbage. (PIA/RGA)
