MBTF: Road elevation only real solution to Dagupan flooding
MAYOR Belen Fernandez asserted that the road elevation and drainage projects she pursued are the best real solution to the city’s perennial flooding as she noted that the previous city administration wasted more than P20 million in supposed flood mitigation projects.
Speaking during the podcast “The Punching Duo” hosted by Atty. Gonzalo Duque and PUNCH editor-publisher Ermin Garcia Jr. last April 5, Fernandez cited a pumping station built by the Lim administration along Rizal Street that was meant to siphon floodwaters on Rizal Street and Perez Boulevard into the Pantal River but failed.
Residents in the area said the project was never used even once to pump out floodwater.
When Fernandez inspected the project, she saw small pumping machines that would not be effective enough to pump out floodwater even along Rizal Street.
Records tend to indicate that the contractors of the project were the brother-in-law of then-mayor Brian Lim and the other, Alvin Coquia, now councilor.
In an earlier press conference, Lim said if he were mayor then, he would not have allowed the elevation of roads in Dagupan, which adversely affected many businesses.
Fernandez said flooding was the main issue raised against her when she sought reelection in 2019 and lost. When she returned in 2022, Fernandez said she sought the help of the DPWH led by Regional Director Rommel Tan, who immediately responded to her request for solutions to Dagupan’s perennial floods.
“The DPWH has its own data about the flood in Dagupan and knew the height of the roads to be built to finally do away with the flood,” the mayor said.
On the opposition’s charge that the elevation of roads was done without any consultation, Fernandez said the DPWH conducted its own consultation while the city government complemented it by doing door-to-door meetings with establishment owners.
Dagupan City originally was only one meter above sea level and sank by more than one meter after the July 16, 1990 earthquake. (Leonardo Micua)
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