3,000 Bulacan families to be relocated to higher ground

CITY OF MALOLOS—As part of its risk reduction program, the provincial government has decided to permanently relocate 3,000 families living along the banks of Angat River and who suffer from seasonal floods.

Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said the National Housing Authority (NHA) has identified new settlement sites for these families, and the government intends to transfer them there by September 2013.

Arlene Pascual, head of the provincial planning and development office, said the transfer of these families would be done in stages, beginning with an initial 800 families from the towns of Norzagaray, Bustos, Baliwag, Pulilan and Plaridel, which are usually devastated by floods.

She said resettled families would be asked to pay a monthly amortization fee of P300 for their new homes.

The provincial social welfare and development office has completed a profile of the families that the provincial government intends to move away from the banks of Angat River.

Angat River traverses 11 Bulacan towns, including Angat, Donya Remedios Trinidad, San Rafael, Pulilan, Calumpit, Hagonoy and Paombong.

The families targeted for relocation are often displaced or those who seek shelter whenever rains elevate the reservoirs of Angat Dam, as well as the downstream Ipo and Bustos dams.

Felicisima Mungcal, chief of Bulacan’s provincial disaster risk reduction management office, said some families have refused to relocate during storm alerts and only move to safer places when floods start to rise. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon