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Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Common folk cite anti-flood pact
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- As simple as it may seem, the declogging of drainage canals around the city has become a source of hope for ordinary residents who eke out a living in the streets of this component city.
Ping Patio, 29, a tricycle driver for 15 years, was excited as he watched the joint team from the City Government, Department of Public Works and Highways and the Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PamCham) open and clear canals lined up along the streets of the busy Dolores Junction.
Ever since he began ferrying passengers with an old sidecar, Patio cannot recall a single rainy season that left the main street to Dolores Homesite dry.
Every year, he said, tricycle drivers shoulder increased fuel consumption as against a slow flow of passengers whenever the main road is submerged under up to waist-deep floodwaters.
Patio said regular fare for each trip costs only P12. If the road is flooded, tricycle drivers had to take a longer route to homes in the subdivision.
Sometimes, passengers pay extra charge for the longer trip but, most of the time, the regular fare prevails.
Engineer Marni Castro, who had been leading the declogging operation since July, said the main culprit in the flooding in the streets is the heavily silted canals that are supposed to sift away water from the road.
True enough, when the team started digging garbage and other debris from the nearby creek, truckloads after truckloads of silt were fished out.
Castro, with assistance from the City Government, which provides for the diesel being used by the heavy equipment in the operation, is in a self-imposed mission of cleaning some 54-linear kilometers of drainage canals in the city.
His "mission" begun after the July rains which flooded the Dolores Junction.
(September 5, 2006 issue)
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