Candaba mayor puts measures in place to mitigate flood risks

CANDABA, Pampanga — With his town surviving yet another heavy flooding, Mayor Jerry Pelayo is enforcing steps to spare his constituents from the adverse effects of such perennial calamities.

These measures include the forced relocation of families living in nine "hopelessly threatened" barangays along riverbanks, the zoning of agricultural areas, and engineering interventions to deflect floodwaters from the Pampanga River.

For a start, Pelayo said he has ordered the permanent relocation of 138 families living on the banks of the Pampanga River "because their areas can no longer be spared from severe flooding."

Facing relocation are residents of Barangays Pansinao, Lanang, Sto. Rosario, Buas, Gulap, Pescadores, Mandasig, Pasig, and Bambang.

A resettlement site is being rushed for them in Barangay Pasig. The municipal government is developing the site, with an additional P12 million being provided by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Gawad Kalinga Foundation, Pelayo said.

The NDCC has also set aside P25 million for projects that would protect Candaba from the swelling of the Pampanga River, he said.

So far, Pelayo said infrastructure measures that they have implemented along the river have been effective.

"Our flooding damage last year was estimated at P150 million. After we implemented projects on the river recently, many of our barangays were spared from flooding during the recent typhoons and damage was estimated at only P8 million," he said.

These measures included a cut-off channel that deflected floodwaters flowing through the river from elevated areas in Arayat town, thus sparing, for the first time, eight barangays in the so-called "Capampangan region" in Candaba from the recent floods, Pelayo said.

Pelayo is now also enforcing agricultural zoning, telling farmers in 15 flood-prone barangays to refrain from planting rice from July to October due to the high risk of flooding.

These barangays are Manlili, Bagumbali, Barangka, Mapanique, Pangkalara, San Pablo, Bahay Pare, Paligui, Dulong Ilog, Paralaya, Gulap, San Agustin, Sto. Rosario, Bambang, and Pescadores.

"During the prohibited months, the farmers could instead shift to fishing, as the floods also bring fish for catching. Historically, the risk of crop destruction is very high from July to October," he said.

Pelayo has also asked agriculture officials to conduct a massive soil study throughout Candaba and recommend what profitable crops could be planted in each suitable area to boost the livelihood of his constituents.

"There are areas that were converted to fishponds which have become no longer feasible as the water in these areas has become acidic. The fishpond owners want to go back to planting melons but their areas are no longer suitable for this crop," he said.

Pelayo also bewailed the sprouting of illegal fishponds in the vast Candaba Swamp.

"These illegal fishponds occupy at least 1,000 hectares of the swamp, and they block the flow of floodwaters into the Pampanga River," he said.