CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) regional office here is conducting massive de-clogging and cleaning operations of heavily silted drainage systems along the Manila North Road (MacArthur Highway) in this province in preparation for heavy rains this wet season.
DPWH Region III Director Roseller A. Tolentino has earlier ordered District Engineer Almer C. Miranda to go full blast in the clearing and cleaning operations as the agency is aware of the flooding problem along the Manila North Road’s 33-kilometer highway stretching from its boundaries from Bulacan to Angeles City.
“Our district offices through their maintenance teams have been constantly doing cleaning and desludging works as part of their routine maintenance activities prior to the start of the rainy season. This is in order to preempt the flooding along our major thoroughfares,” Tolentino said in a statement on Monday.
Maintenance teams of the DPWH-Pampanga 1st District Engineering Office and the City Engineers Office of San Fernando joined forces in extracting heavy volumes of sludge and garbage from clogged water drains along Barangay Maimpis going to Dolores junction.
He said the agency has collaborated with the City of San Fernando Engineering Office and the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Pampanga for the clearing of clogged drains along the Manila North Road which have been pre-identified.
DPWH officials lamented the wanton disposal of trash, especially plastics that everybody knows are non-biodegradable.
“We are disappointed with the large volume of garbage that we deal with every time we undertake clearing of our drainage systems. While we, in government, are always at the receiving end of public condemnation for alleged inefficiency in the implementation of our flood control and management measures, we overlook the fact that flood prevention is a two-way effort – it’s not the agency which clogs these structures. Obviously, we need the discipline of the road users,” Miranda said.
However, Miranda said that as an all-weather agency, the DPWH has to perform according to the needs of the people, at all cost.
District Maintenance Chief Alfie Lejarde led the agency’s operation, taking note that voluminous sludge of ready concrete mix thrown were part of the haul. (PNA)
