Cebu City — A former Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary disclosed on Tuesday that aside from floods being experienced by the city residents during rainy season, the problem of garbage that proliferate in the city's drainages is also becoming a crisis.

This was the assessment of former Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu after he conducted an inspection with Mayor Michael Rama at Mahiga Creek, which runs through six barangays in Cebu City and Mandaue City.

Cimatu, who was appointed as overseer of the City's Task Force Gubat sa Baha in 2022, said concerns related to garbage, the quality of the river's water and the presence of unauthorized structures along its banks have become part of the city's waste problems.

"I've been here for one year but only this time that I saw the bigger problem for the City of Cebu. I was hoping that my presence here is for the flooding, but there are bigger problems aside from flooding," said Cimatu.

"We have to solve the garbage problem. We must be committed to do that. There are garbage in the river every time. You clean it for one week, the following week it's back," he added.

The former DENR secretary also stressed that barangays in the city are also responsible for the problem of irresponsible waste disposal.

As for the river's water quality, Cimatu said it is important to restore the water quality in every river in the city.