CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—In times of disasters, politics takes a back seat.
President Benigno Aquino III nailed this message in his visit to flood-ravaged Pampanga, the bailiwick of his predecessor and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Wednesday morning.
Mr. Aquino was welcomed by Governor Lilia Pineda, a close friend of Arroyo, as he was briefed by San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez on the Sagip-Ilog project in San Felipe village.
Standing on a dike, the President was all ears first to Rodriguez, a member of his Liberal Party.
Rodriguez said the P490-million flood control works of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), complemented by a P100-million fund from the city government, had “significantly spared” the Pampanga capital from floods during Typhoon “Pedring.”
“It helps make San Fernando a livable city,” Rodriguez said of the project, part of the Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project (PHUMP)-Phase III.
‘Tell me what you need’
Pineda, standing a meter across the President, talked to him in a soft and tentative voice.
Mr. Aquino, wearing his trademark yellow shirt, coaxed Pineda, saying in Filipino, “Please tell me whatever you need.”
The governor then talked about the need to dredge the mouth of the Pampanga River so water could drain fast into Manila Bay.
Pineda also asked for public lands on which the provincial government could build resettlement sites for residents in perennially flooded villages in the province’s fourth congressional district.
Mr. Aquino then ordered Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson to lend the provincial government four dredging machines to clear the river’s mouth of silt and garbage. The matter of land for the resettlements was referred to the National Housing Authority.
“Just say it and I will provide additional assistance,” the President told Pineda.
Mr. Aquino committed P20 million to the Sagip-Ilog Project to add to the widening of the Balimbing Creek, said Rogelio Ang, chief of the DPWH Mount Pinatubo Emergency-Project Management office.
Impressed
Pineda came out impressed after meeting and talking to Mr. Aquino for the first time.
“I saw no hint of politicking from the President. This was the first time that we met and talked but he listened,” she told reporters later.
Pineda said the visit, though lasting not over 20 minutes, was very “fruitful” for Pampanga.