DAVAO CITY – The Office of Civil Defense-Davao is set to meet local government officials and concerned government agencies next month to craft solutions to make the region disaster-resilient.
OCD-Davao chief Ednar Dayanghirang said on Monday, January 22, that his office will organize a Flooding Dialogue Series that aims to find solutions to recurring floods in the region.
DAYANGHIRANG (Keith Bacongco)
Dayanghirang made the initiative amid the widespread flooding and landslides last week that affected at least 110,000 persons in the provinces of Davao del Sur, Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental.
The OCD official explained that he plans to hold dialogues in each municipality or province to discuss and address specific problems in every area.
Dayanghirang added that there could be some problems in the locality that needs intervention from the regional level and even from the national government.
He cited the flooding in Carmen town in Davao del Norte caused by a mangrove area which the local government wanted to desilt to enable flood water to drain into the Davao Gulf.
However, the mayor was stopped by a government agency since it is prohibited to cut mangroves. “So, what happened was a stalemate. We need to come up with a win-win solution,” Dayanghirang said.
Several barangays in Carmen had been submerged in floodwater due to swelling of river systems.
A portion of the national highway in Carmen linking the cities of Panabo and Tagum was impassable for hours last week due to flood water.
Dayanghirang noted that some local government officials and government agencies blame each other whenever there is flooding. “Everybody is blaming each other. We cannot solve that by blaming. It has to be done through a dialogue.”
He disclosed some local government units are complaining that some government-funded flood-control projects, through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), contributed to the flooding.
“Maybe some of these projects are resilient and strong enough but in relation to disaster, it may have been overlooked,” Dayanghirang said. “So, I just echo this to the national government so that we can discuss it.”