By Diego Morra
If Malacanang sincerely believes that the hastily-announced P2-billion cleanup of Metro Manila waterways and drainage systems would reduce flooding by 60%, then it should put its money where its mouth is and seek succor from science, not the pious wishes of oligarchs and plutocrats who have been profiting from tollways and expressways.
Worse, one of them is directly involved in reclamation projects, one in Manila Bay and the other in Bulakan, Bulacan, both of which have reduced water flow from the shallow rivers in Bulacan and in Metro Manila. We refer to Ramon Ang, whom one columnist hailed as a possible infrastructure czar of the republic. This is the same fellow who tried but failed to construct highways of top of the Pasig River, perhaps buoyed by the profitability of his expressways, and the fact that he had succeeded in pushing his 2,500-hectare reclamation project in Bulakan.
Ang has been lionized for cleaning up rivers in Laguna, dredging silt and other material that would help him reclaim 2,500 hectares from the Bulacan portion of Manila Bay. Moreover, he also has a deal with Boskalis to dredge 2,500 hectares of seabed off three Cavite towns, also for the benefit of his Aerotropolis. We weren’t born yesterday, Mr. Ang, to believe your fantastic claim that not a single red centavo to build the P735-billion New Manila International Airport (NMIA) would come from taxpayer money. How about the damage wrought by floods, the storm surges in Bulacan, the stunted flow of floodwaters from Pampanga, and the lost livelihoods of farmers and fishermen in Taliptip, Bulakan, Bulacan?
Yet, the announcement by Malacanang that Ang and Manny Pangilinan of Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC), the big boss of PLDT and Smart, who continues to be associated with the Salim Group of Indonesia (long bruited about as the repository of dirty Indonesian money and looted Philippine wealth), would “sacrifice” their time, cash and effort to herald a “flood-free” Metro Manila looks pretty much a quickly hatched PR campaign. Dubbed as “Oplan Kontra Baha,” the plan announced on Nov. 12, the eve of Juan Ponce Enrile’s demise, would cover 142.4 km of rivers, creeks, and esteros and 333.15 km of drainage systems in Metro Manila. Have they bothered to talk with hydrologists, physicists and local government officials in crafting such a plan?
Of the 34 esteros in Manila, how many still exist, devoid of warehouses, freed from impediments and functioning as waterways? Have they looked into topographic maps to understand which areas in Metro Manila are below sea level? Or scientifically determined the volume of silt that has accumulated in the major rivers that drain into Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay? The last time something was crafted to reduce the volume of silt emptying into the lake was nearly a dozen years ago, when the Belgian company Baggerwerken DeCloedt en Zoon (BDC) offered to dig 24 traps to make it easier to retrieve silt that makes Laguna de Bay shallower. This was the same company that dredged Pasig River and recovered a World War II-vintage light tank in addition to shiploads of solid waste. BDC’s plan to create two wetlands in the lake, one on the Rizal side and the other in Laguna, were torpedoed when Malacanang killed the lake’s rehabilitation project. The argument? Dredging causes flooding.
It will be a fantastic feat for Malacanang and its chosen plutocrats to achieve a 60% reduction of flooding in the metropolitan area if it can stop the operations of quarrying companies in Rizal, or the Chinese companies allowed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to cut trees and move soil and gravel in an area straddling Rizal and Quezon as it builds a huge dam. Or would Ang and Boskalis be prohibited from seabed quarrying that ruins the marine ecosystem? These are issues that should confront the bleeding hearts who weep each time disaster descends upon Metro Manila, including the media-hogging Sen. Christopher Lawrence Tesoro Go (CLTG), a suki of Philippine Star, whose associates claimed to have the first dibs at Manila Bay reclamation projects.
Similarly, would four or five seabed quarrying be scrapped by DENR and the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) for the benefit of some of the 24 reclamation projects in Manila Bay? For sure, the 77-hectare reclamation venture for the Cultural Center Complex already blocked the natural waterways of Manila and Pasay. Reclaiming more than 21,000 hectares of Manila Bay would naturally reduce its water carrying capacity for the benefit of the Henry Sy Group, Ramon Ang, Davao City businessmen and the political dynasts of Valenzuela City. “Our scientists estimate that flooding could be reduced by up to 60% if this is done properly,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said during the launch at Balihatar Creek in Barangay San Dionisio, Parañaque City. “Flooding can be reduced further if we fix the pumping stations,” he added.
To show just how serious the current administration is in reducing flooding, the Oplan Kontra Baha was launched in four different areas: Caingin Creek in Meycauayan City; Sunog Apog Pumping Station in Tondo, Manila; San Juan River in Quezon City, and Las Piñas River in Las Piñas City. From where did the P2-billion for the project come? The source is the still ‘’unutilized funds’’ of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), not the Department of Public Crooks and Highwaymen (DPCH.) Well, for the administration, hope springs eternal. That is a cardinal principle of grifters and corrupt bureaucrats, too.
