CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Relief is in sight for perennially inundated Sto. Tomas
town with the newly seated mayor taking the initiative to go for flood-mitigating
measures instead of waiting for provincial or national government interventions.
Mayor Johnny Sambo on Wednesday said his administration is set to install eight
pumping stations distributed in all the barangays to drain floodwaters to the river
channels.
“There will be 30 water pumps in all with a combined diameter of 6.5 meters,
which we think will be enough to immediately address our flooding problem,”
Sambo, a public works contractor by profession, said.
“Meager as our resources are, we have convinced our barangay officials to pool
funds with the municipal government to put these interventions in place,” he
added.
A fourth-class municipality, Sto. Tomas, with only seven barangays, is Pampanga’s
smallest town.
The mayor pointed out that it is not only his town that stands to gain with this
flood-mitigating initiative but “more so the City of San Fernando.”
“Downstream as it is, Sto. Tomas, by accident of geography and the law of gravity,
serves as the flood plain of the capital city,” noted Sambo. “Hence, draining our
town will facilitate the floodwater flow from San Fernando and prevent
backflow.”
While the pumping stations “will help immensely” in addressing the problem of
floods, Sambo said “it is by no means a permanent solution.”
“A diking system with a series of flood check gates along our river channels in the
southern part of town will be the answer to flooding in all towns downstream,”
the mayor shared.
Sambo said he is in close coordination with Pampanga 4 th District Rep. Anna York
Bondoc-Sagum “not only in infrastructure but in all other aspects in need of
legislative action, as I have done with Cong Rimpy in the past,” referencing
Bondoc-Sagum’s predecessor, her brother Juan Pablo Bondoc.
