Sell lots, but not too close to one another

First, the good news! We read in the news that properties owned by Cebu Province will now be owned by those living in them as informal settlers. I’m referring to the news where House Speaker Gloria Arroyo came to Cebu to attend a deal wherein she signed a deal dubbed Proclamation No. 409 declaring a parcel of the land owned by the province and donated to the Armed Forces of the Philippines in 1959 as a socialized housing site. It’s about time! This has been with the AFP since the 1950s but the AFP is still there. I think they should already move out of that area.

I just hope that the area being sold to the settlers are clearly defined. Too often, we Filipinos tolerate each other to a certain point that we end up endangering each other because we live too close together. Only after a conflagration happens does the government step in to stop people from reconstructing in their original state. In my assessment, the government should study this case very carefully so as not to transplant communities that still end up endangering each other.

Now that instruments are being prepared to sell these properties to the lot owners, government must ensure that these homes are not too close together to endanger each other. I hope they do this now while a disaster hasn’t yet struck!

* * *

I’m deeply disturbed that the lot owners living near Buhisan Dam will refuse to evacuate if the survey says they have no choice but get out now while the getting out is good. The Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office jointly conducted a survey with the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-7 to check the veracity of this report. They better believe that we are blessed that we did not yet have another earthquake which could bring down the mountainside.

At this point, perhaps we should conduct a real test to check out whether that crack could be another Naga landslide in the offing. Of course we understand that the residents do not want to leave their homes for certain reasons. Let’s just hope that nature will not take its own course and jeopardize hardheaded humans. I still suggest that it is better to play it safe rather than apologize for their hardheadedness. Look what happened in Naga City just a month ago. But for those who died, it was too late for them to change their minds.

I understand that a December 2013 report on the geohazard assessment of the October 2013 earthquake revealed that the MGB-7 submitted a landslide threat advisory to Gremar Barete, who was also Buhisan barangay captain at that time. The earthquake had triggered a landslide in Sitio Sandayong, but there were no reported casualties or injuries. Several houses were damaged, though. Perhaps because no one was hurt was why this issue was not reported by the media. As it appeared, an ocular inspection showed some “tension cracks” had developed after the earthquake. Another landslide also took place on January 2012 located about 100 meters to the west of the October 2013 landslide.

So in short landslides have already been noted in the area, so whether they like it or not the residents of Sitio Sandayong should already be evacuated by hook or by crook!

* * *

Yesterday we attended a BPI Sustainable Energy Finance forum with the media. This was the Bank of the Philippine Islands’ way to helping Cebuano businessmen benefit from financing a new green building to coming up with green programs that help the environment. They used the case where they changed their cooling system in the BPI headquarters in Makati so they could save P700,000 per month. When the project was finished, BPI ended up saving P1 million per month, causing Meralco to verify or investigate BPI why it was saving so much money on a monthly basis.

Perhaps Meralco engineers thought that someone in BPI was tampering with their electric meter? Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a true example. So if anyone wants to go on a green project, only BPI has such a green financing program.

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@ gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www. philstar.com.