P 400 M budget to stop flooding in Bataan town

CITY of BALANGA, Bataan –  A member of the Bataan Sangguniang Panlalawigan  (SP) asked the national government to allocate some P 400 million the for extensive dredging  and demolition of illegal dikes  along the seven kilometer river channel in the coastal towns of Hermosa and Orani bringing to an end the perennial  problems of flooding  of communities in northern Bataan.

Gaudencio Ferrer, SP Agriculture Committee Chair, said the heavily silted Orani channel blocks the flow of rainwater coming from the mountains of Dinalupihan in Bataan and Floridablanca in Pampanga to Manila Bay.

He explained  the  immediate deployment of dredging machines  to extract the heavy concentration of lahar deposit in the vital waterways are essential in the flood control and solution of flooding in Hermosa town which is identified as a natural water basin .

Ferrer, a former Hermosa town mayor, said a strong political will backed by emergency power of the municipal executive is also needed to resolve the decades long dilemma of the residents in pursuing harsh decisions of blasting illegal dikes which obstruct the floodwater to the sea.

The presence of illegal fishponds has contributed immensely to the flood problem which reportedly destroyed public and private infrastructures, loss of income of the fishermen and farming sectors and put the well-being of the residents at risk.

Earlier, Bataan Governor Albert Raymond S. Garcia is pressing for the implementation of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) P2.4 billion flood control projects in Bataan and Pampanga provinces. Garcia requested DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson to fast track the flood control programs like desilting of waterways, construction of dikes and other mitigating flood control measures in the northern Bataan towns of Hermosa and Dinalupihan.

The youthful provincial executive stressed the critical role of the flood control projects to the socio-economic well-being of Bataan and neighboring provinces in Central Luzon since the town of Dinalupihan is the gateway to the best performing economic zones in the country, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) located in the industrial town of Mariveles.