Marcos welcomes private sector help vs flooding

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos is open to San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang’s offer to ease flooding in Metro Manila, saying any assistance from the private sector is welcome.

Ang recently vowed to work with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to address flooding in the capital region at no cost to the government.

According to him, clearing clogged rivers and drains will solve the flooding woes. At a press conference yesterday, Marcos thanked Ang for his proposal, saying the private sector needs to be part of national development.

“I will certainly look at this proposal of Ramon very, very closely and see if it’s actually – if we can do it,” the President said. “That’s something that’s very welcome, as I said. Any offers of help are always welcome,” he added.

Marcos said the projects undertaken by Ang yielded positive results, noting that the latter’s proposal requires coordination with local governments, particularly on garbage management.

He said Ang already gave him a similar briefing, stressing that the business tycoon will desilt the areas in Metro Manila, but the local government units have to take care of the garbage problem.

“It simply doesn’t work until we have a solution to the garbage problem,” Marcos noted. Marcos said there is a proposed waste-to-energy solution in Manila that would be implemented in other parts of Metro Manila if it yields good results.

He also welcomed the proposal of Sen. Panfilo Lacson for the richest families to pool their corporate social responsibility resources together to solve the flooding problem.

The senator recently said Ang’s offer to do a cleanup of rivers and other waterways at no cost to the government may be an opportunity for Malacañang to appeal to the corporate social responsibility of other big firms.

“The so-called taipans of the country, if they want to do something, they are really making offers. That’s why they provide a lot of assistance,” Marcos said.

After the press conference, Marcos inspected the ongoing installation of culvert pipes along Sumulong Highway in Marikina City.

The high-density polyethylene pipes are part of a new drainage system that will direct excess storm water to the Marikina River to help prevent flooding in surrounding areas.

NLEX declogging

The private operator of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) has started clearing 11 waterways in Valenzuela City and Bulacan to minimize incidence of flooding on the tollway.

The cleanup came after Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon convened stakeholders on Aug. 2 to bring up measures on how flooding can be prevented in NLEX.

Although the cleanup began last week, it is only this week that the efforts are being undertaken in full swing. The objective is to clear the tributaries where floodwater flows through.

NLEX Corp. is deploying 120 personnel daily to support the cleanup. Moreover, the company is sending amphibious backhoe, backhoe on barge, boom trucks and dump trucks to hasten efforts in cleaning the waterways.

NLEX Corp. officer-in-charge Luis Reñon said the operator is scaling up its flood control defense to mitigate flooding in the tollway.

These measures include working closely with the local governments and national agencies tasked to oversee long-term solutions for flood control.

Dizon, for his part, emphasized the need for all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to work together at the same time, given the gravity of what motorists endured in NLEX in July.

“This is an all-out effort from all stakeholders because we have to do this together, not each to its own. We don’t know when it will rain hard again, so we have to take advantage of good days to clear the waterways and prevent flooding,” Dizon said.

In an earlier interview with The STAR, NLEX Corp. assistant vice president for traffic operations Robin Ignacio said the company manages pumping stations to push water out of NLEX on days of heavy rain. However, waterways are clogging up, slowing down the release of floodwater.

Ignacio said NLEX Corp. would strengthen efforts with local government units in declogging the tributaries in Valenzuela City and Bulacan. — Elijah Felice Rosales, Rainier Allan Ronda