CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Gov. Dennis “Delta” Pineda has mobilized the resources of the provincial Capitol in a joint undertaking with the Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Luzon to declog the drainage systems along the flood-prone thoroughfares in the city.
Typhoon Carina and the monsoon rains last July onto August and this month inundated the city with the depth of floodwaters unseen in recent years, that is prior to the current city administration.
“Andami na pong nagrereklamo, lalo na sa business sector. At kailangan na rin ho sigurong pagtulungan talaga. Kailangan na rin hong mabigyan kaagad ng solusyon. At sayang ho, maunlad na lungsod tapos sa ganitong problema, hindi ho natin kaagad mabigyan ng solusyon,” said Pineda during the action planning at the Capitol with the DPWH on Monday, Sept. 2.
On Wednesday, backhoes, dump trucks and other heavy equipment with enough manpower opened canals along the Barangay Dolores stretch of Jose Abad Santos Avenue revealing hardened silt, debris of concrete, wood, and steel, plastic, plastic and more plastic that rendered drainage totally useless.
By Thursday, the Capitol-DPWH team had cleared 185 meters of the drainage canals along JASA, still a long way to go in this stop-gap measure of the provincial government at flood mitigation in the city.
There are still Lazatin Boulevard, notably at its junction with JASA, and the MacArthur Highway segment at the government center in Barangay Maimpis to be cleared.
Complementing the drainage clearing, former board member and current executive assistant to the governor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab mobilized beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program to clear clogged drainage canals in Barangays San Pedro Cutud, Dolores, and Sta. Lucia.
“Makatulong po sana ito para maibsan kahit papaano ang mga pagbaha sa barangay. Pagmalasakitan po sana natin at panatilihing malinis ang mga daluyan ng tubig,” said Pineda-Cayabyab of her initiative.
Aside from the declogging operations, the Capitol and the DPWH have also agreed to undertake medium- and long-term actions include upgrading structures so these could take in bigger volumes of water, and constructing urban drainages that serve as catchments.
These include the installation of a pumping station that would drain to Gugu, a creek that has turned into a river after a series of Mt. Pinatubo lahar flows in nearby Bacolor town.
“Nagpa-design po ako sa DPWH at nagpabigay po ako ng estimate kung magkano, at pagtutulungan po namin ang funding para mag-operate po kaagad ang pumping station na ‘yan,” the governor said.
This, even as Pineda has gone to lengths to appeal to the residents to practice proper waste disposal.
Where’s city hall?
The ongoing declogging operations in the city by the provincial government, sans any presence from the city government, has not gone unnoticed to the public.
The social media and traditional word-of-mouth communications are abuzz, ranging from allegations of arrogation of municipal/city powers by the provincial government unto itself, on one end, to accusations of abdication of by the city government of its powers, on the other.
Amid the Capitol operations, it did not help any that city hall did not come out with either press release or post of flood-mitigating measures of its own in its very active social media page, not even in Tiktok that is the highly favored means of social communications of Mayor Vilma Balle-Caluag.
On Friday, Sept. 5, the CSFP-CIO posted photos of what it said were declogging operations undertaken by the city engineer’s office from March to August this year. The depth of the flooding wrought by Carina and the monsoons upon the city raising questions of their authenticity, if not inutility.
Followers of the mayor have accused the city council of “tying her hand” with its disapproval of a supplemental budget she requested late last month, in the wake of the onslaught of Typhoon Carina and the monsoons, for a P5 million allocation for clearing, desilting, and declogging of waterways in the flood prone areas of Café Rustico-St. Jude in Dolores, PLDT to Gulf Gasoline Station on the CSF-Lubao Road, PLDT to Lelut Baculud in Sto. Nino, 7-11 (convenience store) to Prime Water in Lourdes, and the Assumption Creek in Del Pilar.
Measly as it is, by engineering estimates, the requested allocation did not cover the main thoroughfares of JASA, Lazatin Blvd., and MacArthur Highway which flooding effectively brings traffic to a complete standstill for hours on end.
