PUBLIC concern has resurfaced over the hillside development of engineer and content creator Slater Young following the severe flooding in Cebu City brought by Typhoon Tino.
The project, The Rise at Monterrazas, is a luxury residential community being built along the mountain slopes of Barangay Guadalupe.
In a widely shared post, lawyer and commentator Wilfredo Garrido described the floods as “nature’s revenge against years of uncontrolled development” and singled out Monterrazas in his criticism.
Garrido called it “a luxury development built on the slope of a mountain,” and claimed the mountainside had been carved to make way for high-end residences.
Garrido contrasted the project with the Banaue Rice Terraces, which he said were built to manage water. “While the Banaue terraces were designed to catch water and cultivate rice paddies… Monterrazas’ concrete structures repelled water and directed it toward low-lying barangays,” he wrote.
He added that tree replanting commitments could not “replace the old forest fast enough nor in numbers dense enough.”
He also claimed the project’s permits were issued despite early objections. “The former mayor Tomas Osmeña vetoed the project when it was just at the planning stage,” Garrido said, adding that subsequent city administrations “lapped up Slater’s hard sell.”
Garrido further argued that the recent flooding should serve as a warning. “The people of Cebu are reaping nature’s wrath,” he said. “The floods will keep coming back while the multi-millionaires at the mountaintop stay dry.”
Local officials have not issued a new statement linking Monterrazas to the flooding. Young has also yet to address the renewed criticism as of posting time
