Study on Manila Bay reclamation to be done by September
THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Thursday said it seeks to wrap up its study on the environmental impacts of reclamation projects at the Manila Bay by September, after senators blamed these for heavy flooding.
“We believe by September we will be able to complete even the three-dimensional visualization of these impacts of reclamation,” Environment Secretary Maria Antonina Yulo-Loyzaga told a Senate public works committee hearing.
In August last year, Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. suspended all reclamation projects at the bay, except for one, ordering the DENR to review their environmental effects.
Senators Juan Miguel F. Zubiri and Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva earlier blamed the reclamation at Manila Bay for heavy flooding, especially in Manila, Pasay City and Bulacan province.
“In general, reclamation projects will slow down the flow of water and will change the circulation and retention of pollutants and organic materials that are already in the bay,” Ms. Yulo-Loyzaga said.
Public Works Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan on Tuesday told a news briefing that more than 5,000 flood control projects would be implemented across the country this year, after dozens died in floods caused by Super Typhoon Carina and the southwest monsoon rains last month.
At the hearing, the Public Works chief said flood control projects in Bulacan and Pampanga that were supposed to be ready this year were still in preparatory stages.
“The process of doing the detail and design for this type of mega-project takes time because we have to go on the ground,” he said.
Senator Ramon B. Revilla, Jr., the committee chairman, told the hearing that the government has spent about P1 trillion on flood control projects in the past decade.
Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay told the committee that flood control projects over the years had “failed to produce the necessary improvements to safeguard communities.”
“It is deeply concerning that despite the significant funds allocated to the DPWH and the Metro Manila Development Authority, our flood management systems remain inadequate,” she said.
The Marikina River reached as high as 20 meters. Its water level rose to 21.5 meters during the 2009 devastation of Typhoon Ondoy, which killed more than 700 people, and to 22 meters during 2020’s Typhoon Ulysses, which killed about 100 people.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez has said the House of Representatives would look into the government’s flood management budget to determine if it had been spent wisely.
The Philippines’ disaster agency on Tuesday said the death toll from the combined effects of Super Typhoon Carina (Gaemi) and the southwest monsoon had hit 39 and that the number of affected people had risen to 4.8 million. — John Victor D. Ordoñez