Construction of Jolo drainage system underway

SULU, Philippines  – Workers are trying to finish the construction of a drainage system in downtown Jolo to prevent flooding during the rainy season.

The Department of Public Works and Highways in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the office of ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman decided to construct the drainage system last year after five Jolo residents, one of them an infant, perished in a flashflood that hit the town in February 2011.

“People in Sulu, in Jolo in particular, were not familiar with such kind of calamity because the province has never been hit by any massive typhoon since time immemorial,” said Engineer Hadji Emil Sadain, the ARMM’s public works secretary, himself an ethnic Tausog who was born and raised in Jolo, Sulu's capital town.

“This project will help protect Jolo from a repeat of that calamity. This is also part of the preparations to cushion the impact of climate change in this part of the country,” Sadain’s deputy, Engineer Don Loong, said.

Sadain and Loong on Wednesday inspected together the multi-million drainage project, which cuts through Jolo’s commercial hubs, hit in 2011 by 10-feet flashfloods.

Sadain said they are thankful to Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan II and the incumbent mayor of Jolo, Hussin Amin, for supporting the implementation of the project.

He said the project is implemented in a  transparent manner.

He said journalists based in Sulu, and in nearby Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga City have full access to the fiscal records of the project.

The ARMM’s public works department  has yet to fix the damage wrought by a storm surge that hit the Jolo wharf when stong winds from the  sea hit the province last year.

“It was something also new and strange for Sulu folks,” Sadain said.

The storm surge destroyed portions of the Jolo wharf and several stilt houses on the coast of the municipality, causing the dislocation of hundreds of families. - John Unson