Bulacan Governor Calls for Massive Dredging

Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado on Sunday reiterated his call for the massive dredging of heavily-silted rivers in Bulacan and Pampanga to mitigate the effects of severe flooding due to climate change.

The governor said most of the flooded areas in the fourth and second congressional districts of Bulacan can be attributed to the overflowing of rivers due to severe siltation.

“The fast rise of floodwater in the towns of Marilao, Bocaue and in some villages in Balagtas and Meycauayan City was due to the heavy siltation of the rivers,” Alvarado said.

He said that the storms nowadays are powerful and is bringing huge volume of rainfall.

Aside from cleaning and declogging of natural waterways, he said the massive dredging of heavily silted rivers can help mitigate the severe floodings.

Alvarado said that if all rivers in Bulacan and Pampanga will be regularly dredged, floodings will no longer be as severe like the ones that is hitting the towns of Bocaue, Marilao, Bocaue, Sta. Maria and Meycauayan City.

“The floodwater would easily subside if the river is not heavily silted,” he said.

Alvarado noted that almost all the rivers in Bulacan have been heavily silted because most of these have not been properly dredged from a long period of time, thus accumulating more silts.