Councilor bats for new flood control project

MANILA, Philippines - Valenzuela City Liga ng mga Barangay President, Councilor Alvin Feliciano yesterday pushed for the immediate construction of the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan (VOM) flood control project.

“Valenzuela residents have long waited for this. I think it’s high time that we should implement the program now,’’ Feliciano said.

The councilor raised his concern after the national government did not include the city of Valenzuela in the multi-billion Camanava (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) flood control project.

The VOM project, put on the backburner for several years because of bureaucratic delays, is aimed at radically reducing, if not completely eliminating, flooding in these areas, he said.

Feliciano said the VOM flood control project will benefit two million residents of Valenzuela City and Bulacan.

Feliciano said his office has been coordinating with local officials in Bulacan whose areas will benefit from the project. He added that he has also discussed the anti-flood project with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Feliciano said while name of the city is included in the name of the project, the city is not actually included in, and does not benefit from, the Camanava flood project, which has yet to be completed several years after it was started.

“I don’t know why Valenzuela is not included in the anti-flood project. I have no idea,’’ Feliciano said.

He expressed concern that once the Camanava project is completed, floodwaters pumped out to Manila Bay could rush back to unprotected low-lying areas of Valenzuela, Obando and Meycauayan.

He said Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian and Rep. Rex Gatchalian have devised creative, but mostly stop-gap, solutions to ease the flooding in the city. He expressed hope that his discussions with concerned agencies about the anti-flood project will yield positive results, especially with the help of the Gatchalian brothers. – Jerry Botial, Pete Laude