With the trauma of the Dec. 17 flood still fresh in their memory, residents along the Banica and Ocoy Rivers got another scare last Friday when the rivers turned brown and started rising.
Not a few started packing and got ready to head off to the nearest evacuation center in the event that the flood continued to get bigger and stronger. Luckily, the waters subsided in time.
Life, as they know it, resumed. For them, life is a matter of always being on the lookout or being at the mercy of the elements. They unpack and try to live a normal life, only to pack up and leave their dwellings once the floods come. Such is life for those who live in disaster-prone areas.
Hopefully, it shouldn’t always be like this for these riverside dwellers.
Reports say that the government is looking for a relocation site for these settlers, many of whom are considered informal settlers. This is laudable although for a City of only 35 square kilometers, it is highly possible that the available relocation sites would not be to the liking of the perennial flood victims. If so, the likely scenario would be similar to the squatter problem in barangay Looc.
The Philippine Ports Authority, which owns the land the Looc squatters are occupying, had built them a housing project in barangay Cadawinonan. Many squatters refused to budge, saying the PPA-built homes are far from their place of work. As a result, there is no improvement. The Looc area remains the way it looked years ago. There are even occasional improvements or worse –additions–made by the homeowners, but no one seems to care enough to stop them.
Sometimes, one might read news stories indicating that this area is one of the favorite “fishing grounds” for policemen in the anti-illegal drugs drive.
There should be a better life for these people as well. But in both the cases of the riverside dwellers or the Looc squatters, who will tell them that the grass is greener somewhere else?