NAGA CITY, Philippines – The Local Government Unit of Naga is calling on communities in the city’s 27 barangays to actively participate in efforts to keep their surroundings clean to prevent prolonged flooding of streets and major roads during the rainy season.

Mayor Leni Robredo stressed that community participation is crucial to the city’s campaign for a cleaner Naga, noting that the initiative is expected to result in de-clogged waterways, one of the key factors in mitigating floods.

The city mayor made the statement during her program “Oras ni Mayor,” which airs every Saturday over DWIZ.

According to Robredo, one of the primary causes of flooding in the city is the clogging of waterways in barangays, largely due to discarded plastic waste and other types of garbage.

On the part of the city government, the mayor said that nearly a year has been spent conducting studies and analyses to determine the root causes of flooding in various parts of the city. In addition, the city continues to assess areas that have been identified as flood-prone, especially during heavy rains.

She further explained that aside from encouraging residents to take part in maintaining cleanliness, the city also needs to implement measures to relocate families living near waterways to ensure that these waterways are not used as dumping areas for solid waste.

“This initiative is already being undertaken through the Housing and Settlements Development Office (HSDO) to help ensure that families to be relocated will have decent shelter, while preventing garbage dumping in waterways that contributes to the flooding problem,” Robredo said. I via Jason Neola