Eight families from San Juan City have been relocated to a ‘staging area’ of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino program in the same city.
The movement was done as their makeshift houses built on top of a drainage system are currently undergoing voluntary clearing operations to mitigate flooding in the area.
This information was shared by San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora as he and Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday inspected the voluntary clearing of informal settlers at San Venancio St. in Barangay San Perfecto.
The mayor said this place is one of the flood-prone areas in the city.
Zamora said that once the area is cleared, they will be able to assess if the water once stuck in Barangay San Perfecto can now flow through F. Manalo in San Juan City.
He noted that the F. Manalo area is the ‘lowest point’ of the city as it is just beside the San Juan River.
‘We talked with the families and we explained to them the goal of the local government, and we made them understand that their houses are one of the reasons for flooding in San Perfecto, and they immediately agreed,’ he added.
Zamora mentioned that the families were recently transferred to the so-called ‘staging units,’ constructed by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, which were inaugurated last November 18.
The mayor recalled that he did not have a hard time convincing the families to relocate as there are already available staging units for them to reside, and that they will only have to pay for water and electricity.
With this, Zamora said that he sought the help of Dizon to clear drainage systems, dredging operations and the construction of two pumping stations along F. Manalo.
Dizon said that these operations are part of the ‘Oplan Kontra Baha’ program of the national government which was launched last November 12 to resolve flooding in Metro Manila and other areas.
‘The clearing of obstructions, cleaning of waterways, massive dredging to be done in San Juan and whole Metro Manila, the pumping stations that will be built – all of these will be done simultaneously in the next few months,’ Zamora told reporters.’We are really very optimistic that it will lessen flooding in Metro Manila,’ he said.
The funds the DPWH will use for the clearing and dredging operations will come from its savings from the 2025 budget as there will be no allocated budget for locally-funded flood control projects in 2026.
Dizon also said that the voluntary clearing of the houses will be finished in the next few days while the clearing operations of drainage systems will be completed in a month.
The Department of Public Works and Highways on Wednesday began clearing operations of the drainage systems in Barangay San Perfecto, which revealed piles of garbage accumulated for a long period of time. Why problem solving took so long?
When asked why it took a very long time for the local government unit (LGU) of San Juan City to determine the cause behind massive flooding in this area, Zamora said it is not easy to clear houses that are situated on top of drainage lines.
He explained that the city saw the staging units as an opportunity to inform the families that they need to be relocated so they can start the clearing operations.
Meanwhile, Dizon highlighted the lack of collaborative efforts between the LGUs, national government and private sectors in addressing and solving the flooding problems.
‘In the past years, what happened was that there was no coordinated efforts among the LGU, national government, MMDA, and the private sector. They had their own ways,’ Dizon lamented.
‘What’s different now under the Oplan Kontra Baha program of President Bongbong Marcos, the efforts are all consolidated,’ the secretary pointed out.
Life in the staging units Magie Alba, one of the residents recently relocated to the nearby staging units, shared that she was both happy and sad to leave their makeshift home as she had lived there for 57 years.
She said that all throughout their life, she has experienced the heavy flooding in their area.
‘I got sad when the houses are being cleared because this is where my cousins and I grew up,’ Alba said in a separate interview.
Many of the settlers, who have been living on top of the drainage system for over half a century, narrate that their community would be constantly submerged during storms, and the houses would be heavily damaged. With their new housing space, Alba said they don’t have to deal with pests, and they now have their own restrooms and kitchens.
‘We are okay there. We are happy. I cried because I was both sad and happy,’ she remarked.