Flood control projects should be in place – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — House Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera urges government agencies and local governments to ensure that flood control preventive measures are now in place with the onset of the rainy season.

Herrera, who represents the party-list group Bagong Henerasyon, stressed that the government should prepare for flood control and evacuation should be done days or weeks ahead.

“Thousands of residents on rivers, esteros and canals should be evacuated days and weeks before the rains come, not when the floods are hours or seconds away,” she said.

Herrera said the dredging of heavily silted rivers and canals should begin before the heavy rains come.

—Julie M. Aurelio