MBTF: I’ll never stop DPWH’s projects in city to solve flooding
WHOEVER asked for the DPWH projects is immaterial. What matters most is, it is during my incumbency that the national government finally acted the flooding problem of Dagupan.
This was the sentiment expressed by Mayor Belen Fernandez as she vowed not to stop the ongoing projects of DPWH— the elevation of roads and construction of bigger drainage canals along A. B. Fernandez Avenue, Arellano Street and Perez Boulevard and other thorough fares— that seeks to mitigate the floods in Dagupan contrary to what the seven-man majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod wanted her to do.
“Siguro hindi naman bulag ang mga mayors at congressmen noon. Alam nila na tatlong lugar ang palaging binabaha sa Dagupan, in front of YMCA, in front of Mercury Drug at Perez Boulevard up to M.H. Del Pilar in front of SM Center Dagupan, and the intersection of A.B. Fernandez Avenue, M.H. Del Pilar and Arellano Street.”, the mayor said.
She said it doesn’t matter who requested it because what should really matter is “the support to the project and not go against it.”
She told newsmen in a press briefing after the first meeting of the new Flood Mitigation Commission that she will not deny that she was among those who requested DPWH for the projects.
“So, salamat na lang at mabilis ang action ng national government,” she said.
She described the call of opposition Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia to simply borrow 10 Vactron water absorbing machines from the DPWH as the thinking of a minor child, since floods in the Dagupan cannot just be solved by pumping out the floodwater.
She said she even wondered why the past Flood Mitigation Commission recommended mostly the pumping out of flood waters but never the elevation of roads and construction of bigger and wider drainage canals.
Fernandez said she is seeking the construction of bigger projects, and not piecemeal projects.
These include the construction of flood gates, rehabilitation of rivers and creeks, elevation of roads and construction of bigger drainage systems.
At the same time, Fernandez revealed that at the beginning of her term in July 2022 when DPWH Regional Director Romel Tan called on her while city hall was submerged in floodwaters, she reiterated her calls finally solve the flooding in Dagupan. (Leonardo Micua)
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