GENERALLY people in flood-prone areas in Iloilo wanted to know when the flood control project will start, as revealed by a survey conducted by the project consultants along Jaro district and some parts of the town of Pavia.

The project consultants said that this suggested the “impatience of the people with the pace of project implementation” and their “yearning for solutions to this long-standing problem”.

The study, which also measured the awareness of the people on government projects aimed to control flooding in Iloilo, showed that 56 percent of the respondents would like to be informed of the timetable of the project, while others would like to know the details of construction, components of the project, including budget and role of government agencies.

The Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH) as lead agency said that though a bit slow, the project components are on its toes, like assistance and social preparation for the Project Affected Families (PAF) so that relocation canbe facilitated, the conduct of watershed and solid waste management studies and baseline surveys for the Information Education Campaign (IEC) activities.

Projected to begin early 2004, the project can expect to be on full swing on the latter part of next year and even spin off to early part of 2005.

Mr. Mike Guioguio, who presented the results of the survey, said that the respondents were aware that there are efforts the government is undertaking to control flooding in the areas concerned, like fixing street drainage, clearing of garbage in the rivers, dredging of rivers building canals and floodways reforestation and clearing of rivers of squatting.

Results of the study also showed that respondents agreed that the main causes of flooding in Iloilo were the throwing of garbage in the river, poor drainage in Iloilo City and forest denudation.

The respondents, however, gave least weight to illegal construction, illegal quarrying and illegal squatting as causes of flooding.

Even if the respondents feel that the government has done very little yet to arrest the problem of flooding, they also perceive that at least something is being done.

They also agree that the government and the private sector should work together to rehabilitate the rivers which are the channels of heavy flooding in Iloilo.

Elsa S. Subong, Philippine Information Agency 

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