The Floods in Cagayan de Oro: Findings and Recommendation

August 6, 2010 -- Cagayan de Oro is traversed by several rivers and streams with origins in Bukidnon. On the first week of January 2009, an unusually massive cloud system covered almost the entire Philippines. The rivers and streams of Cagayan de Oro quickly overflowed on the 3rd, 11th, and 13th and submerged many residential areas, including barangay Lapasan and Carmen.

CNN weather map, January 13, 2009.

Streets became murky rivers, and several vehicles and houses were submerged. The flood also affected many areas in Misamis Oriental and other parts of Mindanao. The multi-purpose halls of Bulua and Opol became evacuation centers.

Mindanews reports that in Cagayan de Oro "Illegal mining and wanton destruction of the remaining forests in Lanao provinces have been blamed for the series of flash floods in early January that left three people dead and affected 16,104 families or 83,321 individuals in 47 barangays or more than half of the city's 80 barangays."

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo flew to Cagayan de Oro on the 22nd to attend an emergency meeting of disaster coordinating councils. Speaking on TV and radio station, Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma blamed deforestation, hydraulic hose mining, clogged canals, and poor subdivision planning for the calamity.

Hydraulic mining in the hills of Cagayan de Oro send down mud to Iponan River. Copyright © Elson T. Elizaga.

Less than a year later, a bill declaring Cagayan de Oro a logging-free zone was passed in Congress. From Sun.Star Daily is this statement from representative Rufus Rodriguez: " ... our total log ban bill has been approved by the House of Representatives. I urged the Senate to act speedily on it because this will help ensure that the January flash floods won’t happen again in our city." [More in Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro]

Former mayor Constantino Jaraula invited geologists from the University of the Philippines to find ways to control the floods. The geologists in a press conference reported that a huge part of the city sits on the river delta, which is easily submerged during heavy rains. They recommended that future city developments be made in the highlands.

Several observers, however, see a potential danger in this advice, since the conversion of hills and mountains into subdivisions usually require the cutting of trees. Environmentalists remark that the massive flooding of Cagayan de Oro in 2009 was partly caused by the depletion of the forests in Bukidnon. Other people blame global warming.

Historian and anthropologist Antonio J. Montalvan II, however, took note of a great flood almost a hundred years ago. On page 100-102 of  A Cagayan de Oro Ethnohistory Reader, Montalvan describes The Great Cagayan River Flood of 1916:
"A very strong typhoon brought a continuous downpour for three days. The Cagayan River overflowed its banks. Houses along the riverside streets were inundated. But the low-lying Pabayo Street, then called Calle Nueva, was under water that residents there had to wade through the waters by boat.

"... It was the flood that apparently gave rise to the name Puntod, a slightly elevated land that remained dry during the flood, and the name has stuck till the present, despite its being in a lowland area ... The great flood changed the river's course, particularly in the areas southeast and southwest of San Agustin church."

In an email to the Heritage Conservation Advocates egroup, Montalvan wrote: "The two recent flash floods we had, of the Cagayan River and the one yesterday of the Iponan River, were nothing compared to the great flood of 1916 ...."

A resident of Barra, Opol views the remains of houses carried by the swollen Iponan River. Copyright © Elson T. Elizaga.

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