Macanlalay: Cojuangco’s win heralds solution to flooding

By  Mortz C. Ortigoza

CALASIAO – The mayor here hopes that the victory of former congressman Mark O. Cojuangco will usher for the solution of the perennial flooding that haunts this lowered topographic town.

A supporter hugs Calasiao Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay
when he mimicked  Larry Graham's musical opus
"One in a Million" in one of the powwows in the
huge Pangasinan province. Macanlalay eyes the
vice gubernatorial post in the Northern Luzon
province. PHOTO CREDIT: Loejan Anudon

Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay cited that one of the solutions Cojuangco saw in solving the floods here and some parts of the province is the used of the LiDAR Technology.

LiDAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It is, according to the U.S National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges or variable distances to the earth. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the earth and its surface characteristics.

“Iyan na nakukuha mo iyong terrain ng lupa makikita mo kung saang lugar ang malalim at saang lugar ang mataas. At doon mo makikita kung paano ang magiging takbo ng tubig kung saan ang daloy ng tubig. Si-simulate mo na Lang doon ang isang tubig baha. So makikita mo mababaw, ganoon ang solution noon,” he stressed.

This LiDAR may be used to scan buildings, rock formations, etc., to produce a 3D model
 The LiDARcan aim its laser beam in a wide range: its head rotates horizontally; a mirror tilts
 vertically. The laser beam is used to measure the distance to the first object on its path.
PHOTO CREDIT: WIKIPEDIA

Macanlalay said that in other countries officials there look for the lowest terrain where they excavate a huge hole to catch the flood.

Cojuangco called this as stilling of water technique. This technique, he explained to this paper, of excavating a wide land area to catch large volume of water would help control flooding.

Although huge excavation is new in the Philippines, it has been done in other countries like Mainland China, he said.

“It is like a coffee in a mug, after you stirred it you can see the ingredients like sugar, cream, coffee bottoming down. They are like the soils brought by the flood”.

The less silt that subsided on the river bed the more the water way helps mitigate the flood that swell in the community.

Cojuangco said the other solutions to help solve the massive flooding in Central Pangasinan are dredging, resettlement of illegal settlers on the river banks, and expansion of waterways.

Bigger water ways, he said, means large volume of water can be accommodated. The former congressman of Pangasinan said these expanded water ways could arrest flooding in areas near the rivers.

Macanlalay said that during the scourged of Tropical Storm Egay last July, 17 of the villages here were affected

“But not all of them barangays were underwater; some of them were just “sitios (village’s enclaves)””.

When Cojuangco offered financial aid after the typhoon lashed these villages, Macanlalay begged him off to instead extend the aid to towns like Bani that was badly hit by the typhoon.

“I told him to help other towns as we have enough funds from the Calamity Fund and the aid that  I interceded from the national government”.