Everyone moving but the bashers

By Leonardo Micua

 

THERE was a lull Thursday morning before the full might of  Super Typhoon “Ompong” struck us in Northern Luzon or just  few hours before our deadline.

Although it rained a little the night before, making the surrounding areas still wet, it was a perfect day I supposed, with the sun smiling over the horizon, to stroll in Lucao mall and buy some provisions that we need at home.

Internet was a little erratic Wednesday night and as cable TV signal was also faulty. many missed the full episode of FPJ’s “Ang Probinsyano” when Cardo put the wounded president on his motorcycle to be treated elsewhere before those who wanted him dead get to him.

Anticipating “Ompong”, with its dangerous powerful wind and rains likely as strong as “Yolanda” that put Tacloban City down to its knees and killed close to 6,000 people years ago, local governments in Pangasinan were moving fast and refusing to be caught flat-footed.

Many LGUs cancelled classes in all levels in both public and private schools and directed their respective DDRMCs to prepare fully for the expected emergency.

In Dagupan City, Mayor Belen Fernandez held meetings with members of CDRRMC, including barangay chairmen and representatives of public utilities, particularly Decorp, to prepare for the possible onslaught of “Ompong”, with special instruction to the Quick Reaction Team to effect forced evacuation for stubborn residents who may refuse to leave their abodes endangered by the storm.

The same things were done by officials of the province who declared a red alert 24/7, putting all member agencies of PDRRMC on full alert.

In Barangay Malued, Chairwoman Pheng de los Santos initiated a bayanihan system in rushing the completion of the sandbagging of an opened area of the dike in order to prevent  floodwater from adjacent Calasiao from flowing into both Malued and Lasip Chico, through Enerangan Lake.

Sadly, the collapsed dike in Barangay Alibago, Sta. Barbara, tagged as the source of extreme flooding in Calasiao and Dagupan in July and August, has not been repaired due to red tape as work on this has yet to go through public bidding, although funding is already available.

We note that DPWH has been busy cleaning drainage canals, using for the first time their high-tech equipment that could suck wastes that gathered in culverts, announced Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo in his Facebook account.

All these will help ensure that expected flooding in Dagupan will not be as bad as the last time.

Everything and everyone are moving except perhaps the bashers of Mayor Belen who continue to refuse to move their asses, just waiting and wishing for an opportunity to bash the hardworking mayor.

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During a meeting with Cong. Toff de Venecia and his parents, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and former Congresswoman Gina de Venecia at their residence in Binloc, Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Belen Fernandez ruled out the proposal for the city to buy its own dredging machine to help clean the rivers of sediment.

She said considering the fact that a brand new, heavy duty dredging machine would cost from P700 million to more than P1 billion, an amount the Dagupan city government cannot afford even in the long term. The city will not get a loan just to buy the equipment.

She said that to date, there are already three dredging machines brought to Dagupan by the  DPWH but one of them, the bigger one, is still not serviceable because it conked out several months ago and had to be repaired. Hopefully it will be back in shape sometime in October this year, she said.

Cong. Toff said he has requested for one more dredging machine from DPWH to be used in the dredging of the Calmay and Pantal rivers to help minimize flooding in Dagupan.

The De Venecias are definitely on the same page with Mayor Belen in solving the flooding of Dagupan.

Recall that during the term of then Mayor Benjamin Lim, he bought a small dredging machine which was made to appear as brand new only to find out its was merely re-conditioned. When Lim returned to his post, after three years of inactivity, that dredging machine was already not serviceable and had to be condemned. It was worth only P96,000 to a junk shop.

So when the  Lim administration backfilled the wharf in Dawel to set the stage for the Dawel River Cruise, a private contractor with an old dredging  machine was contracted to recover sediment from the Dawel River for “Daongan ed Dawel”.

But as  things turned out, the project was eventually dropped after Lim’s allies pulled out the two customized boats for the Dawel River Cruise. That was the end of that episode.

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