San Simon folk to local gov’t: Revive waterways vs flooding

(Last of two parts)

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, PAMPANGA, Philippines — The municipal government of San Simon, Pampanga, should lead the search and revival of irrigation channels, road canals, creeks, rivers and swamplands to ease flooding in the town and along sections of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), said resident Bella Parungao.

A resident of San Simon’s Santa Monica village, Parungao and several residents had campaigned for these actions since 2018 as they endure the perennial flooding in their communities.

Article continues after this advertisement

The flooding problem, she said, emerged in less than a decade. Nearby barangays had become the catch basins of areas now occupied by manufacturers of steel rebars, makers of tiles, operators of large warehouses and other business establishments.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

READ: Pampanga town holds key to NLEx’s battle with flood

“When Quezon Road was a dirt road, the areas along it were swamplands if not low-lying,” recalled Arthur Punsalan, head of the provincial environment and natural resource office and a native of San Simon.

Alfie Lejarde, head of the Pampanga 1st District Engineering Office, said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Central Luzon office and his unit built box culverts and cross drains when it raised the level of Quezon Road in 2008. Steel plants and large compounds of warehouses began coming by that time.

The San Simon engineering office admitted there is “currently no existing drainage plan specifically covering the area along Quezon Road.” It said that a “possible proposal for involving revetment and drainage improvement along Quezon Road may be considered as part of future infrastructure planning.”

Article continues after this advertisement

For Parungao, government agencies have not properly protected natural waterways or irrigation channels because some firms built their structures on top of these or built their own drainage systems without connecting to the few that existed.

She pointed out that the now nonexistent Cabalantian Creek in Barangay De la Paz contributed to flooding. This creek drains to San Pablo Libutad, San Pablo Propio, San Isidro, Santa Monica and finally to the Tulaoc River. She hopes that a pumping station will be installed in De la Paz because it is a low-lying area and NLEx, although without intending, works like a dike for the town.

Article continues after this advertisement

For former Councilor Randie Flores, the National Irrigation Administration needs to repair or build check gates to prevent the overflow or allow the draining of the Pampanga River in a stretch of what locals call “river control dike” along San Juan and San Pedro villages. The Tulaoc River has to be dredged in Pankiyari in Santa Monica and San Isidro, he added.

Economic disruptions

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon, a native of Pampanga, dreaded how the recent flooding along the San Simon section of NLEx “paralyzed” the movement of people and goods.

The prolonged flooding last month disrupted the supply chain, for one, of vegetables from northern Luzon to Metro Manila as travel through NLEx took up to 12 hours from the usual five-hour trip. The delay forced Benguet traders to miss the 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. selling window at Divisoria’s wholesale market where buyers from the Mindoro provinces and Bicol region converge.

An estimated 200,000 kilograms of Benguet vegetables were unable to be transported to Divisoria daily due to the floods on NLEx.

In a privilege speech before the Senate, Sen. Joel Villanueva said efforts must be taken to prevent NLEx from being “paralyzed” given its role as a “critical economic lifeline,” noting that it handles some 350,000 vehicles in a given day.

Villanueva, a native of Bulacan province, also raised concerns about the welfare of motorists when a similar situation occurs again, such as the availability of emergency food and water, portalets and medical assistance when needed, given that at its height, some travelers endured more than 20 hours on the road.

For its own development, San Simon needs to solve the worsening floods that badly hurt its agriculture sector. Rendered unusable are irrigated lands that span 3,742 hectares, 411 ha of alluvial plain highly suitable for agriculture, 192 ha of agroindustrial croplands, and 147 ha of fishery areas, according to records of the Bureau of Soil and Water Management.

The floods also halted the operations of Superbsteel Manufacturing Corp. and Currimao Aluminum Corp. for two weeks. RealSteel Corp. (RSC) continued with production at regular three shifts because it offered shelter to its 520 workers and their families, Melodie Arellano, the firm’s general manager, said in a phone interview.

The manufacturing as well as the construction of a new facility that shifts from induction furnace to electric arc furnace were possible because RSC adopted mitigation measures, such as raising the ground by 2 meters (6.56 feet) and constructing a water pond encircled by trees within its 40-ha compound.

The local government said Melters Steel Corp and SKK Steel Corp. already declared their status to be nonoperational before the calamity.

Wan Chiong (now Superbsteel) suspended making steel rebars when water rose to almost a meter (3 feet) in its plant, inundating all its equipment. Should these equipment be declared to be beyond repair, Wan Chiong president Ben Co said importing steel could be an option.

Larger picture

Lost income from business taxes of steel companies amounts to a maximum of P150 million annually from one company alone, said landowner George Cariño, also the local legislative council secretary. The town council has not received a proposal to provide tax relief to industries.

By itself and with meager income, San Simon has bigger flood problems to solve for its people than worry about NLEx and travelers there. The building of water detention basins in the town, as proposed by Dizon, appeared to be an urgent middle ground.

Dizon said the basins are just one part of a flood management plan in Central Luzon. Upstream, the discharge of the Pampanga River will be slowed down or caught by five sabo dams in Bongabon and Gabaldon towns in Nueva Ecija province.

In Bulacan, the Pampanga Delta Development Project Phase (PDDP) 2 will be pursued in Calumpit town, which is also at the mouth of Manila Bay. Rayman Builders reported the PDDP 2 to be 93.4-percent completed with P472.7 million in funding from the General Appropriations Act of 2023, according to the Transparency Dashboard of BetterGov.ph.

Using foreign loans, the DPWH intends to continue the Central Luzon Pampanga River Floodway project with a few dozen hectares in the 2,000-ha Candaba Swamp, keeping water for irrigation. A long coastal dike with check gates from Cavite to Bataan provinces is a feature of the Manila Bay Integrated Flood Control Coastal Defense and Expressway Project.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda has sounded the urgency of doing immediate repair and rehabilitation works, coupled with regular dredging and desilting, because the rains, while making Pampanga a catch basin for floods, have also triggered landslides and remobilized lahar from Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption 35 years ago. /cb