Celebrity engineer Slater Young is once again facing public backlash over his hillside development, The Rise at Monterrazas, after the recent deadly flooding in Cebu caused by Typhoon Tino.
As of Thursday morning, Nov. 6, the reported death toll from Typhoon Tino rose to 114, and thousands of homes were displaced due to the flood, with Cebu province and nearby regions bearing the brunt of its aftermath.
The disaster reignited criticism of Young’s controversial real estate project, located on the slopes of Barangay Guadalupe and promoted as a ‘terraced, Banaue-inspired’ residential complex. The engineer revealed the project to the public in 2023.
Despite already drawing flak two years ago, netizens once again took to social media to question Young’s large-scale project that has possibly contributed to the recent massive flooding in the province.
‘It never floods in Guadalupe. But when Monterrazas started construction in 2007, it slowly started flooding already, and just this week, super lala ang baha (the flood got worse),’ wrote one netizen on X on Nov. 5.
It never floods in Guadalupe. But when Monterrazas started construction in 2007, it slowly started flooding already and just this week super lala ang baha 🙂 Young has defended the project in past interviews, saying it underwent more than 300 design revisions to ‘ensure environmental safety and structural stability.’
However, critics pointed out that any large-scale construction on Cebu’s mountain slopes could reduce the area’s ability to absorb rainfall and could trigger landslide and flooding.
Young, meanwhile, has not issued a public statement after the renewed criticism of his project following Typhoon Tino. He previously said that the development project was aboveboard and was approved by various government agencies.