Flooding worsens in 49 Pampanga barangays

GUAGUA, Pampanga — Floodwaters which have submerged 49 barangays in six Pampanga towns for a month now, swelled to one to five feet deep following heavy rains the other day.

The flow of the floodwaters to Manila Bay, however, has been impeded by fishponds which small fishermen have built on the banks and even in the middle of the Guagua-Pasac River.

Fifteen of the flooded barangays are in Minalin, 13 in Macabebe, seven in Sto. Tomas, 10 in San Fernando, three in Apalit, and one in Masantol.

Isaias Panganiban Jr., executive assistant of Guagua Mayor Paterno Canlas, said the fisherman built the fishponds after they lost their livelihood when lahar debris from Mt. Pinatubo heavily silted the Guagua-Pasac River.

The river, a major outlet of floodwaters in the province, used to be quite deep and a source of livelihood for fishing families here and in other towns. But since the Pinatubo eruption in 1991, lahar has almost fully choked the channel.

Panganiban said fishpond dikes built here can readily be demolished because they were made from lahar materials. In Sasmuan town, however, he said fishponds have concrete checkgates.

In Hermosa, Bataan, "influential" residents have also built fishponds in the river, according to its former mayor, Godofredo Ferrer.

Meanwhile, flooding in Tarlac City has apparently worsened, hampering the flow of vehicles and goods between Metro Manila and Northern Luzon.

For several days now, the city’s major thoroughfares, even in the commercial district, have easily been flooded, sometimes about knee-deep, after a few minutes of downpour.

Primarily affected by the flooding are the commercial centers along F. Tañedo and M.H. del Pilar streets, and the MacArthur and Romulo Highways and the Barangay San Roque junction which links them. — Ding Cervantes, Benjie Villa