Pampanga townsfolk oppose third ‘Erap river’

MINALIN, Pampanga — Hundreds of local folk vowed yesterday to oppose another multimillion-peso, anti-flooding project, named after former President Joseph Estrada, unless the 37-kilometer long project is realigned to skirt thousands of households.

The P900-million funding for the third "Erap river" from the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) was approved during Estrada’s term.

The Mt. Pinatubo Emergency-Project Management Office (MPE-PMO) of the Department of Public Works and Highways began work on the project last month.

Residents of Barangays Bulac, Sta. Catalina, San Francisco I and Maniango here vowed to oppose the project after they received notices from the MPE-PMO and its contractors "to enter, survey, demolish, and/or remove improvements and use of lot thereon, pending payment of the required just compensation."

The notices, signed by acting MPE-PMO project director Amando Ramirez, stated that the project was designed "to mitigate flooding" in the towns of Lubao, Sasmuan, Minalin, Sto. Tomas, Macabebe, Mexico and other low-lying areas in Pampanga.

"We are not against the project per se if this would solve the worsening flooding problem in Pampanga. What we want is for the project to be redesigned so hundreds of families would not be displaced," said Barangay San Francisco I chairman Renato Waji.

Minalin Mayor Edgar Flores supported the stand of his constituents, saying nobody would be dislocated if the river’s unpopulated eastern bank, instead of the populated western bank, would be widened.

The third "Erap river" was designed as an alternative drainage channel for the heavily silted Pasig-Potrero-Guagua-Pasac River and the Pampanga River where the P3.2-billion Pampanga Delta Development Project (PDDP) has failed to curb flooding. — Ding Cervantes