Manila Guide Online

Reports have shown that Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando denied report that he put to waste a P1-billion flood warning system. According to a report which appeared in Newsbreak, the flood warning system could have been used to minimize the loss of lives and damage to property. Although some people might say this, the worst has come and it is our responsibility to learn and help one another.

MANILA, Philippines—Denying a report that he put to waste a P1-billion flood warning system, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando on Sunday said the equipment was still “operational but obsolete.”

Fernando said the Effective Flood Control Operation System (Efcos) was actually the basis for an evacuation warning issued to Marikina City residents at around 1 a.m. on September 26, the day Tropical Storm “Ondoy” submerged Metro Manila and nearby provinces in deep floodwaters.

He added that another warning was issued at 3 a.m. on the same day.

“As early as 1 a.m., there was a warning for Marikina residents to evacuate. The city was not yet flooded at the time,” he told listeners of “MMDA sa GMA,” the agency’s weekly program on radio station dzBB.

According to a report which appeared in Newsbreak, the flood warning system could have been used to minimize the loss of lives and damage to property.

Quoting sources, the report said Fernando let the equipment deteriorate because the cost of maintaining it outweighed its usefulness.

Financed by Japan, the 1992 project, Newsbreak said, gathered data from water gauges and water level stations which would provide authorities with “advance information on any overflowing of riverbanks along the stretch of the Pasig River, thus alerting them for potential flooding.”

It added that Efcos stopped operating in May 2008 due to budget problems.

Our government is one of the reasons that floods and lives were crushed. They should at least do something about their acts and responsibilities.

Due to the recent calamities that hit Philippines, mostly in Luzon, several groups and families have made it possible to help our homeless brothers and sisters. The typhoon not only took homes of families but also swipe away innocent lives for several days. In Baguio, Us troops helped the residents and bought rice, sardines and drinking waters.

The U.S. military trucked in supplies and marshaled helicopters and Navy ships as the Philippines struggled with the aftermath of back-to-back storms that have left more than 600 dead.

After pulling six people from landslides late Thursday and early Friday, Filipino rescuers said they remained hopeful of locating more survivors in the stricken north of the country, but retrieved only bodies on Saturday.

With roads blocked and bridges washed away, the Philippine government’s resources have been stretched thin. Officials have asked U.S. troops in the country for an annual military exercise to extend relief operations.

Troops from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Okinawa, Japan, had just finished rescue and cleanup work around the Manila, which experienced the worst flooding in over four decades after Tropical Storm Ketsana dumped record rains Sept. 26. That disaster displaced about 1 million people and killed 337 in the capital and surrounding provinces. More than 287,000 remain in evacuation centers.

Then Typhoon Parma struck Oct 3 and has lingered as a tropical depression for about a week, also over the main northern Philippine island of Luzon. It has dumped more heavy rains, triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 276 people, most of them in the last two days. It has displaced about 170,000 people.

Regional civil defense official Olive Luces said 152 bodies have so far been recovered in Benguet province—200 kilometers north of Manila—23 in Mountain Province, and 50 in Baguio city. Some 51 deaths have been recorded earlier in eight other provinces.

Marine Capt Jorge Escatell, a U.S. military spokesman, said troops have trucked tons of U.N. food aid from Manila to a Philippine military camp in northern Tarlac province for distribution by the Americans on Sunday to victims of Typhoon Parma.

Marine CH-46 helicopters have also flown over the flooded region to assess the damage and find locations for a medical mission and food distribution. Heavy equipment also will be brought in to help clear roads littered with debris, Escatell said.

Clearly it is very important to help and pray for our brothers and sisters who are now suffering from hunger, drought and are homeless.