Marikina City Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro turned over two new vacuum trucks to the city’s engineering department on Monday, Sept. 12, as part of the continued efforts to improve its public services and ensure health and safety.
The ceremonial handover of keys to the trucks were received by City Engineer Kennedy Sueno, and Assistant City Engineer Josephine Evangelista.
Using vacuum trucks is one of the ways in which the engineering office clears the city’s creeks and canals.
The trucks utilize a mechanism that automatically sucks the clogged waste out of the tunnels.
The vacuum trucks will greatly help the engineering department’s declogging of sewages and drainages in flood-prone areas.
Now with a total of four vacuum trucks, the members of the engineering department will be able to fulfill their duties more easily, the local government said.
Their operations will also become more convenient, they added.
For areas with narrow roads and smaller canal holes, personnel use manual roding machines to scoop the garbage, mud, and soil.
Smaller waterways are also cleared using compact versions of long-arm backhoes and dump trucks.
The city’s drainage system has a combined length of 902.99 kilometers, with the water in all intersected flowing out to the Marikina River.
Tools of their own
The local government has previously said they are working towards acquiring their own material resources in order to offset possible delays in construction or response.
Their projects may suffer if, for example, the equipment they are using are only borrowed from national or other local government agencies for a limited time.
“Malaking bentahe na may sariling kagamitan ang Pamahalaang Lungsod ng Marikina sapagkat madaling nakakapagsagawa ng repair works o pagkukumpuni anumang oras at saan man lugar kailanganin (Having our own equipment and materials is a great advantage to the local government because repair works can easily be done any time and any place necessary),” they said in a statement on Thursday, Sept. 8.
Mayor Teodoro has said they have acquired around five to six fully functional dredging machines since the start of 2022 for the ongoing dredging of the Marikina River.
Having their own tools allows them to work independently and gives the local government autonomy in maintaining the river, he said.
The local government has also accepted equipment donated by their Japanese sister city, Sakai, Japan. They were given a high-tech ambulance with an advanced life support system and a new fire truck in 2019 and 2022.