In recent years, heavy floods during the rainy season have become part and parcel of the everyday lives of residents of Pacita Complex subdivision in San Pedro City, Laguna.
Concerned citizens have raised alarm over the lack of a comprehensive program among city and barangay officials to alleviate the perennial floods that plague San Pedro City’s largest commercial/residential complexes – particularly, the lack of adequate drainage systems that can cope with increasingly unpredictable weather.
But for the most part, residents, motorists and commuters had been resigned to accept the floods as the price they have to pay for economic progress.
Yet the floods that submerged Pacita Avenue, the subdivision’s main thoroughfare, last June 26 took everyone by surprise.
The first heavy rains that hit Laguna province at the onset of the rainy season also brought a deluge like no one in the subdivision had experienced before.
“Kung dati, hanggang sa may Pacita Astrodome lang ang inaabot ng baha mula doon sa riles ng tren, ngayon inabot raw nang hanggang Eighth Street ang baha,” was how some residents who requested anonymity told OpinYon Laguna.
A video uploaded by OpinYon Laguna on its social media page showing waters rushing past a commercial building near Sixth Street has garnered more than 1.6 million views and 5,700 reactions (as of Thursday, June 26), as residents took stock of what they claimed was the worst flooding Pacita Complex had experienced in recent years.
"Dati bahagya lang Ang pagtaas sa Lugar na Yan dahil ang pirmeng mataas at hindi masulusyunan e Yung bukana papasok ng Pacita. Hehehe. Arko Muna Bago flood control? Di lang yta na anticipate ng local gov't na magtatag ulan na kaya nauna yung arko," netizen Dave Domanais commented on OpinYon Laguna's video.
Welcome arch to blame?
And many residents have quickly found an object to blame for the deluge: an under-construction welcome arch near the Centro Pacita Complex, fronting the site of the future Pacita station of the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR).
Since it began construction last month, the welcome arch has earned the ire of motorists and commuters who found themselves having had to take long detours after portions of Pacita Avenue were closed to give way for its construction.
Since the June 26 flooding, however, residents also raised the concerns that the arch may have actually contributed to the intensity of the floods, as it allegedly blocked an underground canal that flows into a creek and onwards to Laguna de Bay.
Some residents also noted that prior to the heavy rains, a portion of Pacita Avenue itself had been excavated – possibly, for a diversion tunnel to make up for the portion of the underground canal that was blocked by the arch.
"Kaya pala nilagyan ng arko para merong aakyatan pag bumaha," was how netizen Rommel Fernando jokingly put residents' frustration over the floods, which reached almost knee-deep near the area of the welcome arch.
As of press time, officials of Barangay Pacita 1 and the Pacita Complex 1 Homeowners’ Association have yet to issue statements as to whether the welcome arch did contribute to the intensity of the June 26 flooding.
Waterfalls
Meanwhile, in another portion of the San Pedro City, motorists passing through the San Vicente Road were caught off-guard by what some laughed off as a “new attraction” – what appeared to be a waterfall cascading from the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) into the main road going to the Upper Villages.
A video shared by netizen Joven Cruz showed a deluge of rainwater cascading from the side of the expressway (near the Villa Milagrosa) directly towards San Vicente Road near an underpass.
Some residents – and apparently, city officials, too – were quick to pinpoint the recent road-widening project along SLEX as the main reason for the “waterfall.”
"Ayon sa San Pedro City Engineering Office, coordinated na ito sa pamunuan ng SLEX at hinihintay na lamang ang feedback at paliwanag ng naturang tanggapan," the city government of San Pedro's main Facebook page commented on that video.
That many residents and even city officials were caught off-guard by the flood points to a systemic problem that has been entrenched in Philippine governance: that of officials always acting after the fact.
Residents now ask local officials: are we going to wait for another deluge worthy of Noah’s ark before they craft a comprehensive long-term plan to solve the worsening problem of floods in San Pedro City?
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #OpinYonNews #FloodControls