Once again, the flooding problem

It's again time of the year when authorities will be busy reminding the public about the weather condition as the country is starting to brace for the wet season. Since January, at least four tropical cyclones have already entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility.

Until the end of the year, barring an occurrence of El Niño phenomenon, we can only expect more storms to hit the country. In fact, powerful storms tend to strike in the later part of the year when the cool period is at its peak.

As the country enters the rainy season, Filipinos are once again reminded about the occurrence of flooding and landslides. Even in Cebu, especially in Metro Cebu, flooding continues to be the number one problem. In fact, during heavy rains the past days, floods hit lowlying areas in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, stranding many commuters.

This problem will continue to pester metro residents this year and in the coming years owing to the absence of a solution. Now we are starting to feel the advent of another rainy season and, as usual, expecting to face the experiences we had endured last year.

Despite being the most highly-developed area in the country outside Manila, Metro Cebu remains lagging behind in terms of infrastructure development. Other urban areas such as Davao have much bigger streets and highways because their leaders have come to realize the importance of investing in modern infrastructure.

Many have wondered why our leaders continue to be contented employing band-aid remedies to the flooding around the metro when they can unite and come up with a definite solution to the problem.

There's now really a need for Cebuanos to spank the back of our officials to remind them about the uselessness of those temporary drainage repairs. That is because what the metro needs is a modern integrated drainage system to solve the flooding problem.