By Leonardo Micua

 

AFTER four series of public hearings, the seven-man majority in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan, came out with a one-page resolution (No. R-6336) “earnestly requesting Her Honor Mayor Belen Fernandez to cause a stoppage of the implementation of the road elevation and construction of a drainage system by the Department of Public Works and Highways”.

So much saliva was wasted in those public hearings, only for these aldermen to pass to Mayor Belen the cudgels of stopping the projects of the DPWH which are meant to mitigate the recurrent floods, so Dagupan will not be a water world forever and stay away from being tagged from time to time by bashers in the web as “Dagupan’s Seaty”.

It is a futile exercise of a legislative prerogative because Her Honor will never stop the projects. Hello! The mayor will not be foolish to do what the  seven aldermen earnestly requested her.  That is virtually putting her into the fire and risk herself from volumes of court suits.

And the councilors in the majority are not stupid not to know that. Have it gotten to their brains that when no city hall functionaries attended any one of those four public hearings, it was because Mayor Belen willed that they should not attend?

Mayor Belen is all for this project and a one-page resolution by those who are opposed to her since day one of her administration and who even denied her an annual budget that is due her and the city will not change her mind a bit.

Unlike the seven majority dads, Belen knows her boundaries. The projects sought to be stopped belong to the national government with not even a centavo share from the local government.

It is a bonanza to the whole city that is submerged in floodwaters rain or shine, being only one meter above sea level and with this elevation and the present state of rivers, flooding is really very likely.

And it is possible, that road elevation could be the key to the final solution for the recurrent floods. That is why, Belen is doggedly working with DPWH in order to expedite the completion of the project at the shortest time possible.

In tossing the matter of stopping the DPWH projects to Belen, the seven councilors in the majority bloc may now have finally realized that they are not supermen after all, that even national government agencies would toe the line at their beck and call.

One proof of this is that someone in the majority even cited a standing ordinance calling for flood mitigation based on the recommendation of the past flood commission that, he said, was grossly violated by the DPWH projects.

But hasn’t it occurred to him that such an ordinance, if there is any, is non-binding to a national government agency such as the DPWH? A local ordinance cannot take precedence over a national law (General Appropriations Act of 2023 that allocated funding for the DPWH projects)

So, calling on Belen to stop the DPWH projects on Arellano Street, A. B. Fernandez Avenue East and later M.H. Del Pilar Street is crazy and probably crazier are those who are making such call.

However, the public hearings conducted by the SP committees on public works and infrastructures, and on transportation also unearthed a wealth of information that future leaders and planners, either from the local or national government, could ponder and can work on to save the city from more devastating floods if not deluge in the future.

One of these is the observation shared by retired DPWH District Engineer Rodolfo “Boy” Dion that the Pantal-Sinocalan River, where all rainwater from the uplands is draining before emptying into the Lingayen Gulf, is not only too shallow but also too narrow.

This to him is the biggest reason for the recurrent floods in the city. Thus the need to restore the full width of the river, pointing to the Magsaysay Bridge on Perez Boulevard as the exact width.

Dion suggested for stepped up dredging operations along the Pantal-Sinocalan River, which is actually currently ongoing but in yet small scale.

And then, the DPWH shared that the request for the project was done as early as 2021 and on that year, Mayor Belen has not yet returned to power. Understandably, it was former Mayor Brian Lim who did it, but this was immediately dismissed by Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia, then a close confidant of Lim but offering no other possible reason for it.

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