Probe planned Laguna lake dike, lawmaker urges

DAVAO CITY—Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said Congress should investigate the planned construction of the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike because it was not only costly and completely unnecessary but would also put the lives of the people on the western shores of Laguna de Bay in danger.

The 47-kilometer P125-billion “expressway road mega-dike” was supposed to contain the increasing water levels at the Laguna de Bay aside from providing an alternative route between Metro Manila and Laguna.

But Zarate said in a statement sent to the Inquirer that there was no need to build the dike because the real cause of rising water levels at the lake is the accumulation of silt and sediment from erosion and the denudation of the watershed there.

“It is more prudent for the government to rehabilitate the lake, by among others, conducting regular dredging on its heavily silted bed, while at the same time opening the Napindan Floodgate to drain the excess water, instead of building a billion-peso structure like this,” he said.

The expensive project would also displace thousands of residents living along the whole stretch of the proposed dike, he added.

“Their situation will also become even worse as the project will further aggravate the damage already done to the ecological balance of Laguna de Bay—robbing small-scale fisherfolk, kangkong (Chinese water spinach) harvesters and duck farmers of a viable source of livelihood,” Zarate said, adding that it was not only antipoor but anti-environment as well.

Even more alarming, he said, was the fact that the planned project “runs parallel to the West Marikina Valley Fault, an active seismic fault line running through Metro Manila.”

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology had warned that the fault could trigger a devastating quake any time.

“In the fateful event that ‘The Big One’ hits Manila, and the road dike is damaged by the earthquake, the impounded water in the lake may possibly surge to the towns in its western shore, causing even more damage to the lives and properties of the affected residents,” Zarate said.Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao