ANGELES CITY , Philippines – Families in two barangays in Botolan, Zambales have to permanently give up their homes as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has asserted that re-channeling the Bucao River away from their area would be a waste of time and money.
Chief Superintendent Nilo de la Cruz, Central Luzon police director and chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, quoted Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane as saying that nature should be allowed “to take its course” in Barangays Carael and Paco in Botolan town where the Bucao River has continued to flow since two months ago toward the South China Sea.
Graciela Macabare, executive director of the Zambales Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council, said 845 families in Carael and 820 others in Paco have remained in evacuation centers since the Bucao River diverted to their barangays during heavy rains last August.
Macabare, however, expressed surprise over the plan to abandon the two barangays to allow the Bucao River to freely flow toward the South China Sea.
“We have not been told anything about that,” she said.
Last August, strong currents from the Bucao River destroyed a dike and flowed through Carael and Paco.
“Experts have determined it is no longer prudent to reconstruct the curving flow of the Bucao River toward the sea and allow it instead its present straight path since this seems to be its natural flow,” De la Cruz said.
He said the old bridge over the Bucao River in Carael now stands on dry land, as the river has sought new path in the two barangays.
Macabare quoted older folk in Botolan as saying that Carael and Paco used to be part of the Bucao River channel.
She said many residents in the two barangays have dismantled their homes to reconstruct new ones in Barangay Taugtog where a “tent city” was put up for the evacuees last August.