New law ensures anti-lahar protection for Bacolor town

BACOLOR, Pampanga – Protecting this town from further lahar ravage will be the priority under the Bacolor Rehabilitation Council Law, which President Arroyo signed last Sunday.

Bacolor Mayor Buddy Dungca said the law is expected to pour in billions of pesos for full rehabilitation projects.

Dungca said the dredging of the Gugu creek, which runs parallel to the Pasig-Potrero River where the government had built an anti-lahar megadike, will be top priority for funding under the law.

The law creates the Bacolor Rehabilitation Council (BRC) chaired by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional director Remigio Mercado and co-chaired by Dungca.

During heavy rains, Dungca said water current from the Gugu creek threatens to remobilize lahar debris toward some areas in this town whose 17 out of 21 barangays are within the U-shaped megadike.

Bacolor was the most devastated by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.

“We have to direct the flow of the creek toward the Pasig-Potrero channel,” Dungca said. “We also want to dredge creeks. After these, perhaps we can start building schools and other infrastructure.”

The President signed the law at the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trade, named after a fellow Kapampangan who helped in the schooling of her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, whose 98th birth anniversary was marked last Sunday.

The law was introduced in the House by Pampanga third district Rep. Aurelio Gonzalez, while Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. authored the Senate counterpart bill.

Under the law, about P1.5 billion in special funds will be allocated in the 2009 General Appropriations Act for the rehabilitation of the lahar-ravaged town.

Mercado, however, said the exact budget for the rehabilitation work will be determined after the council, which he heads, has completed its master plan.

“But there are already identified projects which obviously need funding,” he said.

City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez recalled that during his term as congressman representing Pampanga’s third district, he had sourced at least P500 million for the rehabilitation of Bacolor.

Lahar flows from Mt. Pinatubo literally wiped out almost all 21 barangays of the town in 1991.

So far, Dungca said only 30 percent of his town’s 1991 population of 60,000 has returned, as many have relocated in government-built resettlement areas in other parts of Pampanga.

The other members of the BRC are Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio, the regional directors of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Trade and Industry, the third district congressman or his authorized representative, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Bacolor, and one representative each from a non-government organization and the academe.

The law tasks the BRC to draft a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for Bacolor that will be submitted to the President for approval, and to meet regularly to evaluate the progress of the rehabilitation plan.       – Ding Cervantes