Demolition of Pampanga dike questioned

MASANTOL, Pampanga, Philippines – A P2.1-billion anti-flood structure here, which was funded by a loan from Japan, is being demolished by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) allegedly in compliance with a Supreme Court order to clean up the Manila Bay.

“We want the demolition of the 14-kilometer dike along the Pampanga River stopped and probed,” said former town vice mayor Bajun Lacap, chairman of the Coastal Emergency Response Group, which the residents created amid the threat of natural disasters in their area.

Lacap said the government is still paying for the P2.1-billion loan for the dike system done under the Pampanga Delta Development Project (PDDP).

He said the DPWH informed them that the demolition was in compliance with an SC order issued in 2008, mandating government agencies to clean up the Manila Bay, including waterways that empty into it.

“The PDDP project can’t be considered an obstruction. It was carefully studied and implemented,” he said

The PDDP project consisted of widening the Pampanga River by a kilometer in this town and the construction of two parallel dikes on the northern and southern banks of the river.

Lacap said the DPWH has already demolished some three kilometers of the secondary dike and the fishponds.

He warned that should the demolition continue, the primary dike would be exposed to the current and would likely collapse.