IT has been more than one month since Iloilo City was hit by the biggest flood ever, yet the debris or rubbish as a consequence of the deluge is still in many areas of the city. The drainage or the potholes on the roads have not been fixed also. Where is the City Engineer?

You know, it is strange, but this official has never been seen after the big flood that some are worried if he disappeared with the angry waters brought about by Typhoon “Frank.” In fact, we asked a few people we met last Saturday before we wrote this piece for today’s issue on who is our city engineer or where he is, and not one of them know.

Maybe Panay News reporters should secure a picture of the city engineer and put it in the front page of the paper, for our people lo know him.

Is the city engineer male or female?

What does he or she say of the uncollected mud, debris or rubbish, some deposited right in front of the road and public buildings, un-drained canals and potholes long after the flood is gone?

Honestly, we have not met the city engineer. Have you?

Our poor Mayor is the one whose picture is on the local papers, showing his growing beard which he pledged not to shave so long as the city has not recovered from the destruction of the great flood. We should pity him because his is just there for “command responsibility;” it is directly the city engineer’s job to repair the roads, the drainage system and clean the city.

From the looks of it, at the rate the City Engineer’s Office is doing the job (with the help of the Metro Manila Development Authority notwithstanding), we are afraid that our City Mayor will risk growing a very long beard like Rip Van Winkle, before our city roads and other public places in Iloilo are totally restored and cleaned of debris, with the drainage system fixed, so danger to life and property can be controlled if not totally prevented when another flood comes.

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