2 gov’t agencies to demolish structures encroaching river

CEBU CITY –Two national government agencies will voluntarily demolish structures of their regional field offices here that are encroaching on the three-meter easement of the Estero de Parian.

Retired Gen. Aderson Comar, officer-in-charge of the Prevention Restoration Order and Beautification Enhancement (PROBE) here, said officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Audit (COA) were cooperative with the city in its quest to clean rivers in preparation for the rainy season.

DPWH Cebu City District Office and the COA regional field office are encroaching on a portion of the estuary.

Comar said the Cebu City Task Force Gubat sa Baha (war on flooding) met with the officials of DPWH and COA to inform them of their violations of the legal easement.

“I have explained to them our projects. They are motivated to support us. They are willing to cooperate with us in our projects to recover riverbanks,” he said in Cebuano.

The two government agencies were served with a 72-hour notice that they needed to destroy a portion of their buildings encroaching the estuary.

Comar did not give the extent of the encroachment but said the effort was to recover the three-meter easement.

In a 1913 map, the Estero de Parian is shown from the wide mouth of the estuary near the Tabacalera up to the canal-sized tip before reaching Calle Legaspi in this capital. (PNA)