CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Mayor Edwin Santiago on Wednesday insisted that waterways in the City of San Fernando are clean and are maintained regularly, contrary to claims of the Department of Public Works and Highways that rivers, creeks and canals here are clogged with wastes.
During the infrastructure preparedness coordination meeting at the LausGroup Event Centre, Santiago said that the massive flooding last week was a result of clogged tributaries elsewhere, plus the heavy volume of rainfall that pummeled the capital city.
"We have been spending so much in declogging and desilting our waterways regularly. The waste that they said caused the flooding possibly came from the upstream and the water that backflowed from the downstream. We have a long time ago banned the use of plastic and Styrofoam here in San Fernando. Paano nagkaroon ng mga ganito sa mga waterways natin like sa Mapalad Creek at Balimbing Creek," Santiago said.
"We must understand that water tributaries in the province are interconnected that is why we in the city, we always clean our waterways because we are the gateway in Central Luzon and we not want contiguous areas paralyzed," he added.
It is precisely the point, he told Sun.Star Pampanga, that the city government will pursue its proposal to Angeles City to install floating trash traps in strategic upstream areas to identify where the garbage flowing to San Fernando comes from.
Santiago added that the city has been fully cooperating with other local government units in solving flooding in Pampanga.
"Look at what we are doing now at Federosa River. Although it is already out of our jurisdiction, nandoon na ang backhoe on barge natin. The water hyacinth there is no longer simply blocking the flow of water. It is already vegetation. In fact, when we started declogging it, snakes living there made their way into the barge," he said.
Santiago also refuted the claims that the city's pumping stations "were not working" at the height of the flooding.
"They are working, that's for sure. Ang sa aking lang, tama na ang turuan at politika. It's time we get back to work and solve the problem head on," concluded Santiago. (JTD)