CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar on Wednesday ordered the desilting and clearing of the waterways of Pampanga River and improvement of its water-catching capacity.
Villar visited the province to inspect the Mexico spillway and assess the effectiveness of the structure in the aftermath of southwest monsoon rains enhanced by tropical cyclones “Henry, Inday and Josie” that battered the region.
The secretary’s order came as a response to the request of Governor Lilia Pineda for the dredging of the Pampanga River, which serves as the catch-basin of floodwaters coming from the uplands of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
Pineda cited the plight of the coastal town of Masantol, wherein 26 barangays were submerged by two to five feet of floodwaters, prompting local officials to place it under a state of calamity.
Villar said he will order the deployment of two dredging machines to desilt the Pampanga River.
The DPWH chief also saw the urgency to build more disaster-resilient evacuation centers when he inspected a similar facility in Barangay San Roque in Mexico town, which was recently completed.
“I think we have to coordinate with the Office of Civil Defense with regards to the identification of appropriate sites for evacuation centers. In a way, they must be located adjacent to the flood-prone areas,” he said.
Likewise, the secretary ordered the immediate resolution of problematic infrastructure projects, especially those having trouble with road right-of-way settlement.
He also instructed the engineers to report to the DPWH Central Office the delayed grant of permits of the road right-of-way; tree-cutting issues from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and entry permit to local government units especially with big-ticket projects. (Marna Dagumboy Del Rosario/PNA)
