ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Revilla: Senate panel to probe Carina massive flooding on Tuesday

Revilla: Senate panel to probe Carina massive flooding on Tuesday

Published Jul 28, 2024 07:18 am

The Senate Committee on Public Works is set to grill officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) over the apparent faulty flood control system that was evident during the height of Typhoon Carina’s onslaught in major parts of the country.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., chairman of the Senate public works panel, said there is no need to file for a resolution asking for a probe motu propio on the issue as the committee will just resume its suspended hearing on massive flooding on Tuesday, July 30, and take into account the latest disaster wrought about by “Carina.”

The last hearing conducted by the public works panel on the issue of massive flooding was last Aug. 9, 2023.

“Bale, tinutuloy lang natin yung hearing natin nung nakaraan. So, walang ano ito. Bali, sinuspend lang natin yun. So, itutuloy lang natin yung ating hearing nito. At same topic, yun din ang problema na dapat natin i-follow up (So, we will just continue with our previous hearing. We just suspended it. So, we will just continue taking up the issue in the upcoming hearing. The same topic, that’s also the problem that we need to follow-up on),” Revilla said in a Radio DWIZ interview on Saturday, July 27.

Aside from the DPWH and the MMDA, the committee will also ask Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) officials to participate in the hearing.

Revilla, who also conducted a massive aerial inspection on Sunday, July 28, lamented the enormous damage brought about by Typhoon Carina to so many parts of Metro Manila, Bulacan, and Pampanga. The senator also conducted an aerial inspection of the Dampalit Mega Dike.

“So, ngayon, sisingilin natin sila sa mga, eto, eto, bakit nangyari na naman ito? Although sabihin natin, mas mabilis lumabas ang tubig, pero may mga areas na hindi binabaha. Pero ngayon, binabaha (Now, we will make an accounting from them, why did this happen again? Although we noticed that the water easily subsided, there are areas that were not inundated. But now, they were flooded),” he pointed out.

“Like in front ng Senado, diba? Medyo bakit lumulubog na yung area doon. So, yun yung mga dapat tingnan natin. Kaya yan ang ating babantayan. Malaman natin yan on Tuesday (Like the Senate’s front, right? Why did this area is now submerged in floods? So that is what we will look into. And we need to be vigilant. We will learn the reason on Tuesday),” Revilla stressed.

Earlier, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero vowed that the Senate will continue its investigation into the matter as he also questioned the effectiveness of the flood control measures in place, noting that around P255-billion was allocated for the DPWH’s flood control projects in this year’s national budget.

Escudero lamented the DPWH’s budget for 2024 was extremely large compared to other critical government agencies.

Sen. Grace Poe also lamented the some critical infrastructure projects like dikes or irrigation systems are still incomplete.

“So yun nga ang tinatanong natin saan ba napupunta ang proyekto. Ngayon nagkaroon ng pagdinig ang Senado dyan. Nakita na ang mga proyekto tulad ng dike or irrigation system, hindi pa natatapos. Kulang-kulang (So that’s what we will ask, what happened to the projects? The Senate had previously heard this. And we’ve seen that these projects like dikes or irrigation systems are still unfinished. There are lapses),” Poe pointed out in an interview on Radio DZBB on Sunday.

“Nakita rin natin na hindi natin makita ang totoong pruweba ng dredging. Kasi di ba ang dredging na yan aanuhin nila, bubungkalin nila ang mga waterways. Saan napupunta ang mga dinedredge nila (We can also now see the real effects of dredging. Because dredging would require tampering the waterway systems. What happens after the dredging)?” she asked.

“Yan ba ay maayos nilang tinatapon o tinatambak sa ibang lugar o nakaiwan lang dun o ginagawa ba talaga nila? (Do they throw the dredged materials properly? Or are they just piled up in some places)?” she lamented.

“So sabi ko nga, gaya ng nabanggit nyo, talagang daraan sa butas ng karayom ang pagsusuri nitong mga flood control projects na ito (So as I said, the review on these flood control projects will pass through the eye of the needle),” Poe reiterated.

Related Tags

Senate probe bong revilla Senate of the Philippines Chiz Escudero Grace Poe MMDA DENR DPWH DILG Typhoon Carina typhoon Carina aftermath
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.