MMDA to Taguig lawmaker: Flooded areas are not our problem

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday that some flooded areas in Taguig City already lie outside the protection given by the agency’s P5-billion road dike project.

“We are able to control the flooding within the portion of lower Taguig and Pateros located within the protective areas of the road dike project,” MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said.

“If there was no dike, large portions of lower Taguig, including its main road, would still be impassable to vehicular traffic at this point,” he added.

Fernando reacted to a statement by Taguig-Pateros Rep. Lani Cayetano that contrary to the claim of the MMDA, floodwaters in Taguig have not yet subsided.

Fernando said floodwaters in the lower Taguig area have “significantly receded” and what remains flooded are the areas outside of the MMDA road dike project.

According to the MMDA, the 9.8-kilometer road dike project, which is part of the West Manggahan Floodway System, runs through the cities of Taguig, Pateros and Pasig. Complementing the dike are four MMDA pumping stations in Barangay Hagonoy and Barangay Tipas in Taguig City and two more in Pateros and Pasig .

“Flooding in Taguig and Pateros has significantly improved over the last few days because of the effective flood control measures of the MMDA,” Fernando said.

Cayetano inspected the flood-submerged Severina subdivision in Barangay Bagumbayan to disprove the MMDA’s claim. But Fernando said the area inspected by Cayetano lies along the shoreline of the Laguna Lake.

“What she inspected is outside of the protected areas of the road dike. These are areas right along the lake’s shoreline so if the water level in Laguna Lake is high, then the water level in these areas would also be high,” Fernando said.

Aside from the low-lying portion of Bagumbayan, around 80 hectares of land in Bay Breeze subdivision are still submerged in at least three feet of water due to the high water level in Laguna Lake.

Flooding in Bay Breeze subdivision in Barangay Hagonoy, which is just a half-meter above the normal level of the lake, is not expected to ease within three months as long as the water level in the lake remains high, Fernando said.

Fernando said subdivisions should not have been constructed along the shores of the lake. “That is highly prohibited,” he said.

Fernando said the four pumping stations have been working efficiently round the clock pumping out floodwater to the Laguna Lake.

According to Fernando, at the height of tropical storm “Ondoy’s” onslaught, the water level of Laguna Lake rose to a high of 13.8 meters, way above its normal water level of 12.5 meters.