GMA firm on transfer of flood control to MMDA

"So sue me."

This was the response of President Arroyo yesterday to the 26 Metro Manila congressmen who have threatened to question before the Supreme Court her decision to transfer the flood control functions of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Metro Manila to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

The Chief Executive stood her ground on the validity of the transfer order, which she issued while conducting unannounced visits to flood-inundated areas in Tatalon and Roxas districts in Quezon City at the height of Saturday’s monsoon rains.

The President told foreign and local reporters during a luncheon at Malacañang that she had received phone calls from people she did not identify regarding plans to elevate the issue of the questioned transfer of responsibilities to the High Court.

"When I decided to transfer the functions of flood control from the DPWH to MMDA... they called me and said they could even take me to court. I said ‘go ahead, go ahead!’" Mrs. Arroyo said.

"If I lose in the Supreme Court, fine. I will obey the Supreme Court because that’s what the Constitution requires. But I’m not going to lose in the Supreme Court because the law says that flood control belongs to the MMDA," she added.

The President cited the MMDA Law invoked by the Palace legal advisers in support of her directives to DPWH Secretary Simeon Datumanong and MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando last Saturday.

The President stated her firm position on this matter as an "example" of her capability to make tough executive decisions without flip-flopping to appease those offended by such decisions: "I listen, but, in the end, I have to make the decision. Because if I listen and then act according to what I hear, it is a battle of different tongues. In the end, it has to be my compass, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t listen. I cannot forever be moving here and there."

The congressmen, led by Valenzuela Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo (Lakas), opposed the President’s order saying the MMDA does not have the expertise of the DPWH in discharging its flood control mandate.

Deposed President Joseph Estrada supported the arguments of the 26 congressmen, noting that the DPWH has the expertise for flood control that MMDA lacks. However, Estrada hailed Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to install Fernando at the MMDA’s helm, adding that he was about to appoint the former Marikina City mayor when former MMDA chief Jejomar Binay quit the post to run for mayor of Makati City.

The issue of transferring flood control functions to the MMDA will likely be on the agenda when the President conducts the next joint meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) and Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) on July 16. She has invited the 26 legislators who oppose her plans for the transfer and the 17 Metro Manila mayors to attend the meeting.

Meanwhile, DPWH Assistant Secretary Salvador Pleyto said that the transfer of responsibility will not change the fact that the perennial problem of monsoon floods will continue until 2006, when the construction of the 18-kilometer ring dike in the towns of Navotas and Malabon and the massive dike and pumping station on the Manggahan River in Pasig City are completed. The projects come with price tags of P3.9 million and P3 million, respectively.

"We have long wanted to start work on those projects, but we have encountered delays," Pleyto said. The delays reportedly involve the bidding process.

"As long as these projects are not built, we will continue to experience the same floods," he added.

Besides the Malabon-Navotas ring dike, five large pumping stations will be constructed in the areas, which are usually submerged in the deepest floods. The project has already cost the government P960 million in land expropriations for the dike and payment to land owners.

According to Pleyto, of the 66,300 hectares of land that make up Metro Manila, 13,000 hectares are in low-lying areas where only 41 percent of these flood plains are covered by pumping stations.

He also said that even if these major flood control projects are completed in four years, 15 percent of low-lying areas will still not be protected by the dikes and pumping stations. He added that this permanent flood zone would include portions of Caloocan, Valenzuela and Obando town in the province of Bulacan. Other areas where floods will continue to rage are those that lie along the San Juan River in Manila, Quezon City and San Juan town, as well as portions of the cities of Mandaluyong, Parañaque and Las Piñas.

Pleyto also blamed the recent flash floods in the metropolis on the unusually heavy rainfall brought by the recent monsoon, which was four times heavier than the rainfall in the past few years.

Pleyto also blamed the quick degradation of the roads in flood-stricken areas on the fact that many of these roads are old and in need of rehabilitation.

He said the average life span of a road is only 20 years. Highways, such as EDSA, were built in 1954 and the drainage pipes that are supposed to prevent flooding along these thoroughfares are just as old.