STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS - Bacolod City

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The dredging of the Banago Creek took time to finish because we had to
contend first with illegal structures along its banks which impeded the work.
Since DPWH, and not the city, has jurisdiction over waterways, the removal of
these illegal structures was supposedly also their responsibility. However, since
their legal people could not attend to this local problem effectively and quickly
enough, the city found itself forced to assume the responsibility of DPWH in
removing these illegal structures.
Since we cannot forcibly demolish these structures as we had to also
observe due process and consider the human rights of the squatters to be
affected, we initially mulled the filing of appropriate charges in court, like what the
DPWH could have done. However, it was eventually the consensus that such
legal action may take too long to be resolved while the need to dredge the
Banago Creek was urgent. After careful study, it was decided that the best
possible legal option was to go through the legislative route by requesting our
Sangguniang Panlungsod to pass a resolution to declare these structures along
waterways as “nuisance” and therefore hasten the legal process needed to
remove such structures. This resolution was unanimously passed by the
Sangguniang Panlungsod for which support I would like to thank them.
You know, politicians, in their work of public service, would very rarely
take the courage to do this for obvious reasons. Many would prefer to leave this
to the courts, never mind if it will take a long time to be resolved. But no, your
public officials took this difficult way and I think, they deserve a round of applause
for it.
The 86 families at the mouth of the Banago Creek who were removed
from there were given financial assistance of P3K per family. However, only 14
chose to be relocated to the Vista Alegre-Granada Relocation Site. The rest
relocated themselves to neighboring areas to be close to their source of
livelihood.
To protect the newly-dredged Banago Creek from filling up again quickly
from erosion of its riverbank, a river protection wall is now undergoing
construction there at a cost of P1.5 million. Another shoreline protection wall
with a project cost of P350K is being constructed near the mouth of the Banago
Creek to protect the foreshore area there from further erosion.
In the inner portion of the Banago Creek, the DPWH also started last
December, 2007 their own Floodway Project, said to cost P16 million. This
floodway is supposed to be for 800 meters but the project has to traverse a
property owned by the Philippine National Bank and while we have helped
DPWH negotiate with the PNB to allow the floodway to pass through the
property, DPWH has to take a more active role in pursuing either the
expropriation of the portion that the floodway will use up or the purchase of the
properties from PNB inasmuch as the bank is unwilling to cede it for free.