By RIO ROSE RIBAYA
November 5, 2009, 5:05pm [ manila bulletin online ]
At least P22 billion is need annually to ensure a kind of relocation site that is both safe to informal settlers and the environment.
This was bared by 350 local leaders who said that mere eviction of informal settlers along major floodways in the country would not be enough.
Leading provincial government officials and national disaster mitigators nationwide, Albay Governor Joey Salceda explained that the ongoing eviction of squatters and the demolition of illegal structures along major floodways like Napindan and Manggahan as well as Laguna Lake will not be enough.
In an interview after organizing the National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation, Salceda said the national government has to put much effort in carefully planning the relocation of residents evicted along major floodways to ensure it would not aggravate incidents of flashfloods and landslides.
“We need an average of 36 percent of the annual GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which means that we need at least P22 billion a year of the GDP of P7.4 trillion during a normal year.
The number one priority of this would be for relocation and reconstruction,” Salceda told the Manila Bulletin.
On Wednesday, the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) begun demolishing illegal structures in Laguna de Bay, which received too much rainfall that aggravated flashfloods in Metro Manila, Rizal, Laguna, and Bulacan during the onslaught of tropical storm “Ondoy” last September 26.
Romeo Momo, undersecretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways, ordered the demolition of some 2,070 families squatting along the stretch of Maggahan Floodway and the Napindan Channel for faster floodwater.
Authorities have been contemplating to relocate the residents in nearby provinces like Bulacan, Rizal, and Laguna.
“It would be wrong to just kick them out and relocate them to places with less population but near mountain slopes or near the coasts that could also expose them and more people in other places to graver dangers and threats of national disasters,” he added.
Salceda, who initiated the country's first adaptation efforts to climate change, noted the importance of proper relocation, which could prevent another devastating flood to inundate most parts of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces in Northern, Central, and Southern Luzon.
He added that the start-up fund will enable provincial leaders to initially adapt with the adverse effects of climate change like the “unusually strong and erratic typhoons” like Ondoy, typhoons “Pepeng,” “Quedan,” and Ramil as well as tropical storm “Santi” last October.
Salceda explained that the government allotted a funding that is equal to an average of 31 percent of the country's annual GDP that will match and compensate the damages incurred during disasters usually triggered by the onslaught of typhoons and storms from 1994 to 2008.
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