Bulacan Governor Daniel Fernando, Pampanga Governor Dennis G. Pineda, and Bataan Governor Jose Enrique S. Garcia III urged the Office of the President on Thursday, Sept. 18, to authorize the construction of the Manila Bay Integrated Flood Control, Coastal Defense, and Expressway Project.

Gov. Fernando also raised the appeal during the 127th Anniversary of the Malolos Congress on Sept. 15 at the historic grounds of Barasoain Church in the City of Malolos.

The governor said the project is a multi-purpose coastal road-dike that includes the Bataan-Cavite interlink bridge. It aims to ease traffic congestion, address widespread flooding, and improve access to the country’s economic development zones.

He noted that the project was first proposed by Bulakenyo hero, former Senator Gat Blas F. Ople, in the 1970s under the administration of then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., but was left neglected and unsupported.

“Panahon na para buhayin natin ang isinadiwa ng bayaning si Gat Blas F. Ople. [Dahil] ang sakit-sakit [na] po sa dibdib. Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang paulit-ulit na pagdurusa kung mayroon naman palang inilaang solusyon para dito (It’s time for us to fulfill the legacy of the hero, Blas F. Ople, because the suffering is unbearable. The repeated hardships are unacceptable when there are already available solutions for this),” the Bulacan governor said.

Fernando also recalled the proposed bills of the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on disaster preparedness and flood control, which offered long-term solutions but also ended up unfunded.

“Natatandaan ko pa po ang diwa ng kaniyang mga batikos [nang] panahong iyon. Wika niya ay tila ayaw na yata ng ilan sa ating pamahalaan na magkaroon ng long-term solution sa pagbaha. Dahil ba kapag walang problema ay walang ganansiya? (I still remember the essence of her criticisms back then. She said that it seems some in our government do not want a long-term solution to flooding. Is it because when there’s no problem, there’s no profit to be made?),” he added.

Some of the bills Santiago filed before the Senate were Senate Bill No. 3484, or the Flood Management Act of 2009, and Senate Bill No. 1762, or the Culvert Safety Act of 2007.

“Kaya naman ito ay isang hamon sa atin. Alam ng ating mga kababayan kung ano ang totoo. Ang tanging dalangin ko, bago matapos ang aking termino ay makapag-iwan tayo ng mga konkretong solusyon para sa mga problemang deka-dekada nang pasan-pasan ng ating mga kababayan (This is indeed a challenge for us. Our fellow citizens know what is true. My only prayer, before my term ends, is that we can leave behind concrete solutions to the decades-long problems that our fellow citizens have been enduring),” Fernando said.