Councilor bats for Valenzuela-Bulacan flood control project

MANILA, Philippines - Valenzuela City barangay league president Councilor Alvin Feliciano appealed yesterday to the national government for the immediate construction of the Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan (VOM) flood control project to resolve flooding in his city and the adjacent villages in Bulacan.

Feliciano said he has been calling on the Department of Public Works and Highways, the government agency in-charge in carrying out the flood control project construction, but several years had gone the DPWH has taken no action to his appeals.

“The VOM project is supposed to solve the worsening flood problem being experienced in Valenzuela and several low-lying barangays of Bulacan. It’s long overdue but the DPWH is yet to act on it,” Feliciano complained.

He questioned the DPWH for linking up Valenzuela’s name in the multibillion-peso Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) flood control project “when Valenzuela would not benefit from it.”

“Why call it Camanava flood control project if it would not serve our city? It’s only proper that we should push for the construction of the VOM project to resolve our perennial flood woes,” Feliciano said.

DPWH engineer Carla Bartolo, Camanava flood control project director, earlier said the project completion, postponed for several times, was supposed to be last Sept. 15, but according to Malabon City officials, the project is still incomplete. 

Feliciano lamented that despite efforts by the local government, through the combined projects of Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian and Rep. Rex Gatchalian, flooding in Valenzuela remains a “huge predicament” for the residents.

Feliciano urged his fellow officials and that of Bulacan to join him in his plea to President Aquino “to lend an ear to our request since our villages always submerged in floodwaters, especially during heavy downpour.”

Feliciano said that until the VOM project would be constructed, Valenzuela would remain under threat of floods, especially when there is typhoon.