CDRRMO made similar claims during previous flooding incidents

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Department of Public Works and Highways Bacolod City District Engineering Office (DPWH-Bacolod) blamed the recent flooding on garbage. According to DPWH-Bacolod Engineer Ferdinand Magada, who heads the construction section, garbage clogged drainage system inlets, particularly at 6th-Lacson Streets and 14th-Lacson Streets.

He noted, water levels rose to about a foot deep.

Following two days of rain earlier this week, city residents criticized the DPWH drainage project, which was constructed last year along Lacson Street to the tune of P62 million.

Last August, after several parts of Bacolod City were flooded, Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office cluster head, Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas, also blamed the incident on clogged drainage systems.

At the time, he appealed for city residents to avoid throwing garbage in the streets.

Additionally, last July, as the said flood control project was ongoing, incumbent Bacolod City lone district Rep. Greg Gasataya affirmed flooding along the city’s main roads will “soon be a thing of the past.”

In the same report, he also proclaimed, once the project is complete, traffic would be minimized./DGB, WDJ