DPWH identifies structures encroaching into Central Luzon rivers

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) here has finished a study revealing that a total of 3,807 structures, including houses, factories, and fish pens, illegally encroach into various waterways in Central Luzon.

The DPWH has recommended the partial or total demolition of these structures as they apparently had contributed to widespread flooding in the region during recent typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel.”

Engineer Ethel Manalo, DPWH Manila Bay project coordinator, said the inventory of the illegal structures was also done in line with the order of the Supreme Court for various government agencies to clean up the Manila Bay.

Manalo said the identified structures all encroach into public channels or bodies of water that flow into Manila Bay.

“In the Manila Bay cleanup, rehabilitation and restoration program, as per the Supreme Court order, the DPWH is mandated to remove and demolish these structures built along water bodies in the five provinces in Central Luzon – Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Bataan and Nueva Ecija,” Manalo said.

Manalo cited though the need for a relocation site where the displaced settlers could be resettled after the demolition.

The DPWH inventory revealed that 406 structures in four barangays in Balanga City, Bataan encroach into the Talisay River, while 114 houses were found to have impeded the flow of water in the Pentor-Balsic River through Dinalupihan and Orani towns, also in Bataan.

In Bulacan, 528 illegal structures were found along the Labangan Cut-Off Channel that stretches through Calumpit, Paombong and Hagonoy towns.

Also in Bulacan, 960 more structures, including factories and houses, were found along the Meycauayan-Marilao-Obando river system which traverses 12 barangays in Meycauayan and nine barangays in Marilao.

In Pampanga, illegal structures, including fish pens, were found to have encroached into the Guagua-Pasac River, the Pampanga Bay, the Guagua River and the Abacan River.

In Tarlac, 548 structures, also a mix of houses and commercial establishments, were found constricting the Lucong River in Concepcion and Parua towns and the Tarlac River in Tarlac City.

In Nueva Ecija, the DPWH inventory found 140 houses encroaching into the Marinal Creek in Laur, Palayan River in Palayan City, Nabao Creek in Cabanatuan City, and the Dupinga, Asan and Danglan creeks in Gabaldon, and 593 more houses along the banks of the Talavera River.