New Malabon mayor to focus on floods, squatting problem

Flooding is at the top of Malabon Mayor-elect Antolin Oreta III’s priorities as he officially takes over the city’s helm on Sunday.

Speaking after he took his oath of office Friday in front of Malabon resident and Supreme Court Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, Oreta also outlined other issues he would focus on, namely the relocation of informal settlers and the improvement of the quality of education.

“Malabon is sinking. We can’t really give a deadline for eradicating the floods. This city is really a catch basin so we will do what we can to speed up the draining of the water,” he told reporters.

Oreta also noted that the Camanava (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) Flood Control Project is now 99 percent complete although even that may not be enough to keep the city dry when heavy rains and extreme tides threaten to inundate the city.

“Right now, we are discussing with the Department of Public Works and Highways other projects which could be done. We could dredge rivers and increase river walls,” he said.

Aside from the perennial problem of flooding, Oreta said he was also looking for a solution to the city’s informal settler problem, particularly the more than 3,500 families who live dangerously near waterways.

Work started on the first relocation site called Marangal Village  last year. It will house about 900 informal settler families.

“We have also identified other relocation sites for informal settlers but they’re not enough. We estimate we need 90 medium-rise buildings for their relocation,” Oreta said.