Probe on Iloilo flood control project put on hold
House of Representatives could not yet tackle the proposed resolution for the probe on the multi-million Iloilo flood control project of the national government as Congress wants to focus on the budget deliberation.
Representative Raul Gonzalez Jr. said they have agreed to put on hold all the public hearings in the House of Representatives until the budget deliberation is done. Only the committee on appropriations and committee on rules are working at this time as they want to finish the budget hearing before November.
Gonzalez said he only wants to check on whether the flood control project contributed to the flooding of Iloilo City when Typhoon Frank hit Iloilo last June 21, 2008 leaving hundreds of people homeless, destroyed government and private properties and killed several people.
Gonzalez said the resolution is now with the committee on public works but it could not be discussed until the budget deliberation is over. The P8 billion infrastructure project is funded under the 25thYen Loan Package of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
In his proposed 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.