An inquiry about the budget for a study for a city drainage master plan, or anti-flood control system for Bacolod City that was promised by Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella has been made by the Bacolod Anti-Baha Alliance from the Office of the President.

In her letter to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo dated Jan. 4, 2008, a copy of which was furnished the DAILY STAR, the group's chairman Jean Trebol said they are asking for confirmation that, indeed, funding for the study, as well as, for the flood control system, has been set apart and reserved, and will be released soon for the purpose.

She claimed that they and the entire residents of Bacolod City are very much concerned that with the coming rainy season that Bacolod will once again be inundated with high levels of water, destroying homes and properties and endangering lives.

She attached to the letter a letter of Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., to Puentevella dated Oct. 22, 2007 , saying that the Department will conduct the study using its 2008 Preliminary Detailed Engineering Funds.

In his letter to the President dated Jan. 3, 2007, Puentevella had said that an estimate by the local DPWH office has put the project cost in hundreds of millions. He said the Iloilo comprehensive waterways and drainage system has cost the government more than a billion and has resulted in a vastly improved flood control system in the city.

Puentevlla asked the President's approval for the inclusion of Bacolod City in the next foreign loan package for the commissioning of a comprehensive study of the city's drainage system and the construction of a city-wide flood control system in order to minimize, if not prevent the occurrence of massive flooding, in his letter to Arroyo.*CGS

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