CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Hundreds of thousands of informal settlers in Bataan, Navotas, and Cavite are to be displaced by the P400-billion Manila Bay flood control and expressway project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Fernando Hicap, chair of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakayang Pilipino (Pamalakaya), said that already, hundreds of informal settlers are slowly being driven out of their homes in the areas, where the DPWH and San Miguel Corp.’s Manila Bay Integrated Flood Control, Coastal Defense and Expressway Project will be constructed once the project gets final approval.
Hicap aired suspicion “that the huge fire that razed a residential area at the Navotas Fish Port Complex last month was the latest attempt at displacing illegal settlers.”
Hicap claimed that “not everyone who was rendered homeless by fires and demolitions was relocated and given proper housing since the government does not have a com¬prehensive plan for that.”
The P400-billion flood control and expressway project was designed to help combat typhoon waves in the northern metropolis, improve road access, and increase economic growth in Metro Manila.
It is currently being evaluated by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Investment Coordination Committee and Technical Board.
But Hicap called for the scrapping of the “profit-oriented” project that is “only being packaged as a flood control project.”
He recalled that the Pampanga Delta Development Project (PDDP) in Masantol town, which was also aimed at alleviating the impact of flooding of communities in the Pampanga River basin, now acts as a dam blocking the free flow of water toward Manila Bay.
Hicap said developing and restoring the fishery and marine ecosystem in coastal communities would be a better long-term measure against flooding and storm surges.
