P100 M out for Pampanga river dredging; more funds

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — President Arroyo has ordered the release of P100 million for the dredging of the lahar-clogged Guagua-Pasac River to mitigate flooding in the province.

She promised to release P400 million more for the project.

Vice Gov. Mikey Arroyo said the Seabees, the Navy’s engineering brigade, has begun dredging work at the 20-kilometer Guagua-Pasac River which drains into the Manila Bay.

Heavy rain dumped by tropical depression "Jolina" has inundated 13 municipalities, driving at least 2,125 families to evacuation centers.

Gov. Lito Lapid said the President vowed to provide a total of P500 million for the dredging when she distributed relief goods to flood victims in Barangay San Pedro Cutud here last Saturday.

Lapid said the funding was the President’s birthday gift to him. He celebrated his 45th birthday yesterday.

Lapid, for his part, turned over to the President a check for P1 million he had raised from golf tournaments here, for her urban poor projects. Lapid is one of her advisers for the urban poor.

The provincial board, meanwhile, has approved Lapid’s proposal to declare the entire province under a state of calamity.

Dr. Emmanuel Guanlao, provincial disaster chief, said the declaration will enable the provincial government to use some P17 million in calamity funds for relief and other operations in the flood-stricken areas. — Ding Cervantes, Ric Sapnu