Pampanga Governor Lilia G. Pineda appealed to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III for the immediate dredging of the Pampanga River and mouth of Pampanga Bay in Masantol town to minimize the widespread flooding and its adverse effects in the fourth district towns of the province.
The governor, who has been going the rounds of affected municipalities since Day One of typhoon Pedring, said that most of the villages in the eight municipalities of Pampanga particularly San Luis, Candaba, Macabebe, Masantol,Apalit and San Simon still remain under 10 to 12 feet of floodwaters.
“This is the only solution we can see to prevent perennial flooding and lessen the damages brought by the rampant flooding in the fourth district”, Pineda said as she added that the sea level is higher than the river in nearby areas, thus, the floodwater subsides slowly.
The entire stretch of Pampanga River is heavily silted and the riverbanks particularly the Arnedo Dike is fast deteriorating, it being more than 70 years old.
The dredging of more than 50-kilometer Pampanga River is estimated to cost millions of pesos.
Meanwhile, the provincial government, concerned local government units, Department of Social Welfare and Development and non-government organizations have been conducting massive rescue and relief operations in affected municipalities throughout the province.
Thousands of affected families in the 320 barangays of the province have benefitted from the said relief operations.
In addition, the governor, in her personal capacity, has given more than P2 million worth of assorted relief goods to the typhoon victims.
Official reports show that typhoons Pedring and Quiel have affected 99,950 families or a total of 458,045 persons in the province.
The number of totally damaged houses has reached 25,372 while 826 are partially damaged, reports further show.
To date, the province has 62 evacuation centers which provide temporary shelters to 2,311 affected-families or 7, 506 persons.
The governor is very much optimistic that the President will favorably act on the appeal of his Cabalens at the soonest possible time, the governor said. (Pampanga PIO)
