Iloilo City solon pushes probe on P8B flood control project
Iloilo City Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. sponsored a resolution before the House of Representatives calling for an inquiry into the more than P8 billion Iloilo Flood Control Project (IFCP).
In the resolution, Gonzalez said the massive earthworks of the still unfinished IFCP may have disturbed the natural terrain and disrupted the customary passageways of rainwater from the Jaro-Pavia flood plains into the Iloilo Strait thereby exacerbating further the inundation in Iloilo City when Typhoon Frank battered the city with heavy rains last June 21, 2008.
"(It is) far from mitigating flooding in Iloilo City," Gonzalez observed.
The IFCP entails massive construction and earth-moving operations such as the improvement of the Tigum and Aganan riverbanks, relocation of informal settlers living along waterways and construction of 4.7 kilometers Jaro floodway. The Jaro floodway will purportedly facilitate the flow of rainwater from the Jaro-Pavia flood plain into the Iloilo Strait.
Gonzalez said it was not the first time that the city was inundated but the magnitude and suddenness of the floodwaters caught the people by surprise. "Iloilo City government officials were totally unprepared for emergency disaster response," he noted.
The flash floods last June 21 resulted in the death of at least 20 persons, dislocated thousands of families and destroyed millions of pesos worth of properties. Income opportunities were lost because of flash floods and caused suffering to the people. At present, more than 100 families are still living in the different evacuation centers pending their transfer to the San Isidro, Jaro relocation site.
The investigation on the P8 billion infrastructure project which is funded under the 25thYen Loan Package of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has yet to be assigned to a specific committee in the House of Representatives.
It will first pass the House committee on rules headed by Cong. Arthur Defensor before it will be assigned to the appropriate committee.