With the reality that storms in the Philippines are now increasing in number and intensity, some sectors are urging the national government to seriously consider dredging Laguna de Bay, the Philippines’ largest freshwater lake.
Some local officials have repeatedly expressed their belief that dredging the lake is now long overdue, in light of the increasing threat of flooding in communities along its shores.
Several projects are now in the offing to mitigate the issue of flooding along the shoreline of Laguna de Bay.
Aside from the ongoing project of San Miguel Corporation along rivers in the cities of San Pedro and Biñan (isn’t it a shame that private corporations have to step in and do the work of the government?), the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network (LLRN) project is also expected to act as a dike to solve the flooding issue.
To recall, the government in the 2000’s had jumpstarted the P18.6-billion Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project (LRP) that is supposed to deepen the lake and resolve the flooding issue.
However, the project was shelved when former President Benigno Aquino III took over – and somehow, succeeding governments never really took the possibility of dredging Laguna Lake seriously.
It should be noted, by the way, that other sectors have expressed reservations on dredging projects citing the negative impacts on their livelihood such as disturbance of marine life, restricting fisherfolks from fishing on dredging zones, pollution, and opportunities for privatization.
But in the face of ever-increasing threats of intensified typhoons, we should seriously ask ourselves: can we really risk not spending big on dredging the Laguna Lake, and then reckoning the costs in lives lost, properties destroyed and livelihoods disrupted whenever typhoons batter our province?
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