Mayor raises eyebrows on rising sea levels report

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

Mayor Jerry Treñas said the Iloilo City government together with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), and other concerned agencies will meet and study the report published last week indicating threats of rising sea levels that could engulf Iloilo City by 2050.

“I saw that news item also and I don’t really know kun matuod ina kay siling nila to parts of Manila, Iloilo City, and other areas in the country.  We will sit down with MGB and other government agencies about that report as soon as possible,” he said in a phone interview on Monday.

A report by Climate Central indicated that several countries in the world are at risk of being submerged by 2050 due to increasing sea levels caused by climate change.

In the country, major cities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao could potentially be erased in the map as coastal flooding and increasing sea levels may take place in 30 years.

Based on the coastal screening tool of Climate Central, the following areas will be below annual flood level by 2050 – Roxas City, Iloilo City, and areas of Iloilo, Antique, and Aklan.

According to Treñas, they have already installed pumping stations in Muelley Loney in City Proper district and Iloilo River to control water flow in drainage systems.

“We already have the pumping stations may ara kita, kay kon masugata ang high tide gasulod na sa aton ang tubig sa drainage naton that is the reason may ara na kita pumping station,” he said.

Treñas said they have to study very carefully the findings of the report to ensure that all the facts are indeed true.

“I will have to check that and I believe it will have to be studied very carefully. Things like that should not be vividly accepted by anyone,” he furthered.

According to a Climate Central study published in Nature Communications, the rise in sea level by 2050 will trigger average annual coastal floods higher than areas that are home to 300 million people.

The study and research brief from Climate Central feature individual assessments of 135 countries across multiple climate scenarios and years.