Advertisements
HTML clipboard This was the claim of villagers who are living in Rizal Province, particularly in the flood-prone areas in Taytay, Cainta, Angono, Binangonan, San Mateo, Cardona, and Rodriguez.
Froy Solanoy, an engineer and resident of Village East Executive Homes in Cainta, cited as an example a riprap
project of the DPWH in his village, which was destroyed by the downpour last Monday.
Solanoy said a portion of the riprap wall was washed away by the rains last Monday, noting that there was already a hole in it before the downpour two days ago.
The estimated cost of the riprap project, which is located near the Bulao Creek that traverses several villages, was placed at R10 million.
"Kasi hindi matibay ang pagkagawa nito, walang inilatag na apron or L na mga malalaking bato sa ilalim ng riprap," said Nelson Villar, civil engineer and officer of the DPWH.
Villar said that for a riprap to be strong, every layer should be reenforced with solid mixture of cement and that big stones or rocks should be the foundation of the riprap.
He said it is fortunate they had built earlier the wall in one of the houses in the village where the raging water passed through from the collapsed part of the riprap.
Solanoy said the riprap in his village was built poorly as there was no solid cement applied in every layer.
Earlier, Engineer Edgardo Peralta, head of the first engineering district in Rizal, said that the riprap should be built without using steel footing or steel bars, contrary to the recommendation of the villagers.
Peralta's assertion jibes with Villar's recommendation that the riprap should be composed of big stones or boulders laid underneath, and each layer should be applied with solid cement.
Solanoy criticized DPWH for allegedly wasting millions of pesos in its riprap projects in Rizal.
He said if the cost of riprap at the Bulao Creek is really R10 million, the DPWH officers in Rizal should be asked by the Senate to explain it.
All of the riprap projects of the DPWH are reportedly without big stones or boulders underneath, and each layer was not applied with solid cement.
The R7-billion flood-control project in Rizal, supposed to be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was shelved when then President Joseph Estrada was ousted.
Many residents of Rizal are asking President Arroyo to give priority attention to the flood problem in the province.
