Thursday, December 27, 2007 Capitol to desilt Gugu creek
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Pampanga Provincial Government announced Wednesday its plan to undertake desilting operations at the downstream side of the Gugu creek to save the barangays of Bacolor from being flooded come rainy season.
Last December 17, Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio went to Gugu dike in Bacolor to ascertain possible engineering interventions that will address the critical situation in the area.
The governor concluded that a desilting program must be accomplished the soonest as a single event of heavy rains will prove disastrous.
Panlilio met with Cabalantian barangay captain Jomar Hizon on December 18 at the Capitol and discussed ways on how to solve the problem of siltation in Gugu.
Also present in the meeting were Bacolor Municipal Councilors Bong Matic, Bong San Pedro, Provincial Legal Officer Ma. Elissa Velez, and Conscience Inc. member Marni Castro.
The provincial information office said heavy machineries of the Provincial Engineers Office (PEO) that may be used to accomplish the plan are currently being prepared.
Members of the Pampanga Haulers Association (PHA) were scheduled to meet with provincial administrator Vivian Dabu on Wednesday afternoon to talk about the details of possibly working with them in the desilting of the downstream portion of the Gugu creek.
The PEO has disclosed that there is an existing plan for the desilting and diking of the downstream portion of Gugu creek, which is to be accomplished by the Provincial Capitol but it, has not yet been implemented because it is not included in the 2007 budget of the province.
Dabu said the Provincial Government would issue the permits to PHA upon the presentation of proper documents, and the latter is more than willing to desilt the aforementioned creek at its own expense and will still pay the P300 per truckload the Provincial Government imposes.
This is a pro-active measure implemented by the capitol within the bounds of existing laws.
Reacting to the delay in the issuance of permits to quarry operators in Bacolor that has caused the heavy siltation in the Gugu creek issue raised by Mayor Romeo Dungca, the Environment and Natural Resources Office (Enro) at the Capitol belied this, clarifying that there is only one application for commercial permit to conduct desilting operations at Gugu creek.
Councilor Rimando Gozun applied for the said permit and it turned out after inspection done by the Enro staff that the site he is applying for is the same one being applied for a gratuitous permit by Bacolor Mayor Dungca.
Gozun gave way to the Mayor's application on December 04, 2007.
He then applied for another site upstream and he was able to complete the necessary papers only recently. (Sun.Star Pampanga)
