San Miguel Corp. on Wednesday dismissed allegations that its Bulacan airport project is the cause of flooding in the province.
Ramon S. Ang, SMC president and chief executive, said floods in Bulacan have been a major problem long before government approved the airport’s construction just north of Metro Manila.
“There are many contributing factors to flooding. Bulacan has many low-lying areas. Another is land subsidence caused by over-extraction and the depletion of ground water. In fact, that is one of the reasons why we invested in putting up the Bulacan Bulk Water System Project some years back —to provide potable water to residents without having to resort to unsustainable use of ground water,” Ang said.
“Degradation, siltation, and pollution of our rivers are of course major causes of flooding. Because of these, rivers become shallow and their flood carrying capacity is severely diminished, resulting in river overflow and floods. The proliferation of fish ponds in coastal areas has also contributed to severe flooding in the province,” he added.
SMC has cleaned up rivers around the airport project site as part of the overall design and long-term maintenance of the country’s largest international gateway still under construction.
These flood mitigation efforts are seen to benefit the municipalities near the airport.
“We are deeply invested in the future as well as the well-being of Bulacan and its residents. We would not pour in billions in resources if we didn’t consider all possible risks, including flooding in the province. As with any major undertakings of this magnitude, extensive studies were done even before construction started. And even now, we continue to work with experts and to consistently ensure we adhere to the highest environmental and social standards and regulations,” Ang said.
He pointed out the heavily-flooded areas during the last typhoon, particularly in Calumpit and Hagonoy located far from the airport project, were affected by overflow from the heavily-silted Pampanga River which aggravated by the release of water from dams.
SMC is already looking to extend its river desilting and cleanup initiative beyond Bulacan’s rivers to other critical tributaries throughout Central Luzon.
“With our experience in cleaning up Tullahan and Pasig Rivers, the modern equipment we have invested in over the years, and the technical know-how of our personnel, I think we are more than ready to take on the challenge of expanding the efforts to the rest of Bulacan and also Pampanga,” Ang said.
Since 2020, SMC has undertaken major river cleanup programs at no cost to government to help mitigate flooding in and around Metro Manila.
Apart from the ongoing cleanup of the Pasig River, SMC completed the P1-billion Tullahan river cleanup project last yer. It extracted more than 1.12 million metric tons of silt and solid wastes from the river.
At present, Ang said SMC has cleaned up 4.45 kilometers of an initial 13-kilometer stretch along the Taliptip/Maycapiz River and the Meycauayan River. A total of 543,266 metric tons of silt and solid waste have been removed.
Meycauayan River, one of the tributaries to the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River System (MMORS), has been named as one of the world’s worst tributaries emitting the highest share of plastics to the oceans.
Others in the list include the Pasig River, Tullahan River, Pampanga River, Libmanan River, Rio Grande de Mindanao, and the Agno river.
