Government to put up 100-km dike in Laguna de Bay

MANILA, Philippines - A 100-kilometer dike in the Laguna de Bay is already on the drawing board and will eventually be built in order to help protect residents of communities in nearby areas from persistent flooding, President Aquino said yesterday.

He made this disclosure during his visit to Kasiglahan Elementary School in Montalban, Rizal where around 9,106 families or 47,204 individuals were severely affected by southwest monsoon rains.

According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, 54,199 families or approximately 270, 581 individuals were affected in Rizal province.

So far, the national government has allocated approximately P4 million worth of goods while local government units have given more than P700,000 worth of relief assistance.

The President also revealed last week that the government would put up a P2.2-billion eight-kilometer dike in Valenzuela City to mitigate constant flooding.

He mentioned this as he congratulated Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian and other local government officials that included his former girlfriend, councilor Shalani Soledad who is now married to fellow Liberal Party (LP) member, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo.

Aquino said this has been discussed with Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, whose department knows that flood problems in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) area are always inter-connected.

Floodwaters will be directed to a pumping station so that other municipalities will no longer be affected, particularly because all the other towns are below sea level.

In a previous study, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) showed that one-third of Metro Manila’s land area and 19 provinces are vulnerable to flooding.

Raising funds, tapping savings for flood control

Rep. Teodorico Haresco of the party-list group Kasangga said yesterday that the President could easily raise at least P200 billion in foreign aids for flood control and other disaster-mitigation projects just like what his mother did during the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

He said the first step is to convene a pledging session for aid and soft loans, which should be attended by multilateral and bilateral donor agencies.

“Following his vision to implement efficient and long-term flood-control and other projects to shield us from the effects of climate change, and the directive of Speaker (Feliciano) Belmonte to speed up the approval of disaster-mitigation measures, a pledging session is urgently needed to fund all these without having to use up our already scarce resources,” he noted.

The Kasangga representative said among the major projects that could be undertaken are the construction of separate systems for wastes, water and floods, low-cost housing for millions of residents along the Pasig River and major waterways, and “hardening” of vital government facilities, hospitals, power installations, and other public structures against the adverse effects of climate change.

Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada said that the P17.5-billion flood control budget allocation that the President is seeking could be achieved through minor tweaking and could be increased to P25 billion.

Tañada explained that the additional money could be sourced from the P117.6-billion “un-programmed fund,” which is the traditional source of presidential standby spending authority.

The fund, a lump sum item in the national budget, could be used only if there are enough tax revenues to support it.

In line with this, Tañada urged the Senate to expedite the approval of the sin tax reform bill so that the money that could be raised from it could be used for flood control.

The bill, as approved by the House, is estimated to generate at least P30 billion in additional revenues.

Meanwhile, Sen. Franklin Drilon advised the DPWH to tap the P3 billion savings under its present budget to repair the roads and bridges that were destroyed during the strong monsoon rains that left most of Metro Manila and Region 3 under floodwaters.

Drilon, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said there is no need to allocate any supplemental budget for repairs of roads and bridges because there are enough funds under the present budget of the DPWH.

Apart from the P3 billion savings, DPWH also has under its present budget about P500 million “quick release fund” for the immediate repair of damaged roads, bridges and dams.

According to Singson, the savings were made after the DPWH was able to minimize corruption in the agency through conduct of proper bidding for projects. 

Drilon also noted additional appropriations should be made for the proposed construction of new dams at the Marikina River and in Laguna de Bay.

Addressing climate change and waste management

Sen. Loren Legarda reiterated yesterday the need for the government to be more prepared rather than be reactive to disasters.

“Changing climate means changing governance,” Legarda said. “There should be a paradigm shift from the disaster hereon to disaster risk reduction and preparedness.”

Legarda also called on President Aquino to convene the climate change commission and to sign the People’s Survival Fund law to provide able action plan to address issues of climate change.

The senator said the People’s Survival Fund Act also allows the country to tap funding through loans via Official Development Assistance (ODA). Right now, the proposed government infusion was set at P1 billion.

Legarda recommended that the Survival Fund be increased to P10 billion.

Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said that a portion of the government’s P12.2-billion flood control budget should be spent to step-up the waste management campaign especially in the urban areas.

“In Metro Manila alone, more than 5,000 metric tons of wastes are generated every day. Obviously we had not done a good job of managing our solid wastes based on the amount of trash washed back on our doorsteps. We should learn from this,” said Escudero said. 

He cited statistics from the Environmental Management Bureau, which showed that only 73 percent of generated wastes were collected by different local government units in Metro Manila while 27 percent end up in the metro’s waterways, rivers, vacant lots and spaces.

“I support President Aquino’s thrust towards a long-term solution to floods. But in the interim, while the needed infrastructure is being put in place, we should address the immediate problems. Sound waste management policies and practices, backed by strict enforcement, is long overdue,” Escudero said.

He also wants to strengthen the Solid Waste Management Boards (SWMB) in local government units in the country, especially those in flood-prone areas and urban hubs that are heavily populated. – With Jess Diaz, Christina Mendez