Cojuangco Proposes Solutions to Floodings in Pangasinan

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BOAT RIDE. Former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco (black shirt) and
Calasiao Mayor Mark Macanlalay (blue shirt) ride a banca so they could meet needy
residents of a village in Calasiao who were afflicted by Typhoons Luis and Mario.
 PHOTO BY MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

CALASIAO – Former Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco said here that the dredging, expansion of water ways, and "stilling" are the solutions for the perennial flooding that haunted many towns and a city in Pangasinan.
He cited that to monitor that government officials and the private contractors they enlisted to faithfully work, there should be an area where the silts from the dredging could be seen by the public.

“We should dump the silts we got from the dredging operation in areas where an ordinary Juan can appreciate the depth of work the government has undertaken as the silt there accumulate”.
There were media reports before that some government officials and private contractors conspired to haphazardly dredge the silt in the water ways so they can pocket a significant amount of the funds intended for the dredging.
This town mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay Macanlalay pinpointed that a human being can cross the Sinocalan River here by just braving in the ordinary days the waist deep water as silt has already compiled on the water bed.
The more silt on the river bed the more the water overflows on the river bank during a strong downpour or typhoon.
Cojuangco said that resettlement of the illegal settlers who occupy the river bank are necessary before the government can start expanding the water ways.
Bigger water ways, he said, means large volume of water that can be accommodated. The former solon said these expanded water ways could arrest flooding on the areas near the river banks.

He cited that stilling is where a wide land area is unearthed to catch a large volume of water. This water, he explained, would become still as they stop to accumulate in that large area.
“It is an area where stilt are deposited and where the dredging operation should focus”.
He cited that stilling is like a liquid inside the coffee mug.
“It’s like the liquid in a cup of coffee where the sediment composed of coffee, sugar, cream fell and settled on the bottom of the cup when the liquid is still. But when you stir the liquid with your spoon the sediment are disturbed and swirled everywhere inside the cup”.
Although stilling technique is new in the Philippines, it has been done in other countries like Mainland China, he said.