Water rose to six inches at about 9:30  last night along Sta. Clara Subdivision and Barangay 3, Bacolod City, during heavy rains, Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas said yesterday.

However, the water easily subsided this time since the dredging of the Banago Creek has been completed by the city, he said.

Vargas said the Department of Public Works and Highways had to destroy a portion of the retaining wall it has constructed in Purok Riverside to prevent the pressure of the water coming from the northern portion of the city from knocking down the project.    

Water also subsided faster in some areas in the city especially along the Libertad Market because of the clearing operations being conducted by the city, he said.

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panlungsod recently passed a unanimous resolution declaring an imminent danger of calamity in Bacolod to enable the city to use its 15 percent calamity fund for its flood control program.

Councilor Roberto Rojas said he has requested for P10 million for the various expenses in the implementation of the flood control program. He also said that they will also put up a drainage bypass from Sta. Clara Subdivision going to the floodway in Purok Riverside to ease the flood problem in the area.

Meanwhile, Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella said the President has approved the additional P6 million budget for the flood control project in Barangay Banago in Bacolod City.

He said the total amount of the project is P18 million.

The Department of Public Works and Highways will start the survey of the area, he said, and once the study is done, he will forward the proposed loan for the Comprehensive Flood Control Program of the city to the National Economic Development Authority in the next three months.

Puentevella said he hopes the study will be implemented this year. He also said he will be participating in the technical workshop proposed during the consultation hosted by the Office of the Civil Defense in Bacolod on April 18.  

He said he was just an invited guest during the consultation, he said. Presidential Spokesman Rolando Anthony Golez Jr. also asked him to attend, he added.

“I was never a part of that recall message,” Puentevella said. “We came but nobody came from the city except only Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas that’s why we proposed a workshop,” he said. He said he is willing to give the mayor the result of the workshop.

Rojas, chairman of the Flood Control Coordinating Action Team, had earlier said he sent Vargas to represent the city since he was in Cebu. He also clarified that the letter of the Office of the Civil Defense dated April 15 had only asked the mayor to send the FCCAT to the consultation in order to present what the city has done about the flood problem of Bacolod City.*CGS

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