Navotas fishers, boat owners asked to avoid Tangos river due to repairs

Navotas Navigational Gate (Photo taken on July 1, 2025 by GRIG MONTEGRANDE / INQUIRER.net)

MANILA, Philippines — Navotas lone district Rep. Toby Tiangco has appealed to fisherfolk and boat operators in the city to avoid Tangos River as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and contractors conduct a three-day maintenance and repair work on the waterway’s navigational gate.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, Tiangco attached a letter from the department’s regional office, which appealed for the restriction in the entry and exit of vessels along the Tangos River as DPWH, along with contractors St. Timothy Construction Corp. and Anore Construction, do work in the area.

“DPWH and its contractor are asking a 3-day prohibition on the passing through of boats along the Tangos river channel because several important maintenance and repair works will be done at the Navigational Gate,” Tiangco said.

According to the letter, the joint venture of St. Timothy Construction Corp. and Anore Construction will hold the following activities:

• Apron cleaning, dredging and desilting
• Installation of pipes for the flushing mechanism
• Additional repairs to the gate
• Survey and assessment of previous repairs

“This Office respectfully requests your support in implementing a three-day restriction on the entry and exit of all vessels in the Tangos River to facilitate essential maintenance and repair works,” DPWH Regional Director Gerard Opulencia said in its letter to Tiangco.

“These activities are necessary to ensure the operational integrity of the Navigation Gate and to prevent potential obstructions or damages. More importantly, the restriction is being requested to ensure the safety of personnel, workers and all other stakeholders during the implementation of these works,” the department added.

In July 2024, several roads and communities over Metro Manila and nearby provinces were flooded due to non-stop rains brought by the southwest monsoon, which was intensified by Typhoon Carina.

The heavy rains forced the national government to place Metro Manila under a state of calamity. Among the hardest-hit areas were cities in the Camanava area, which stands for Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela.

According to Tiangco then, the flooding in the city was exacerbated by the damage to the Tangos-Tanza Navigational Gate, claiming that flooding was controlled when Typhoon Ondoy hit in 2009 even when there were just 24 Bombastik pumping stations in the city.

In 2024, there are 81 pumping stations, but the damage to the Tangos-Tanza Navigational Gate — caused by a barge that forcefully went through the channel a month before Carina’s onslaught — led to flooding as nothing could now prevent the seawater from entering communities during high tide.

READ: Damaged gate would’ve prevented Navotas floods – Rep. Tiangco

Flooding occurred again in 2025 after repairs to the wall were unfinished.

READ: Navotas roads submerged in flood due to high tide, collapsed wall — LGU

St. Timothy Construction Corp. is the same company being asked by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to explain over the alleged failure to rehabilitate a river-protection structure in Barangay Bulusan, Calumpit, Bulacan.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has already ordered a fraud audit into the billions worth of flood control projects implemented by DPWH in Bulacan and other areas. /apl