NEWSFLASH

GOVT WARNS OF LAS PINAS FLOODS

Las Pinas City, Aug. 28, 2000 - Housing subdivisions around a 64-hectare development project of Fil-Estate Properties (FEP) in Las Piñas face the danger of flooding due to the drain pipes installed around its four-meter high concrete fence.

Initial findings of a composite monitoring team created recently by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio H. Cerilles aimed to establish the actual site of the Pugad Lawin River which allegedly was illegally backfilled by Fil-Estate, thus endangering the community.

The findings were presented to the Senate during a hearing chaired by Sen. Robert Jaworski, chairman of the committee on environment and natural resources.

The report warned that the flooding caused by Mahabang Tubig overflow would affect BF Homes Pilar Village and Camella Homes, owned by the family of House Speaker Manuel Villar.

Team leader Arthur Garcia of the DENR-National Capital Region said Filinvest should be required to explain the presence of the drain pipes since the surface runoff will exit from these pipes and may cause the creek to swell and flood nearby subdivisions.

The team discovered at least 10 six-inch wide canal holes emptying into a 250-meter long live creek which residents call “Mahabang Tubig.”

Garcia said they made these findings during an inspection last Tuesday but that it was confined outside the immediate vicinities of the sites. He said FEP guard would only allow DENR inspectors entry but not the representatives from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Assistant team leader engineer Wilfredo Rafanan said FEP should immediately cover these drain pipes, fearing that there could be more. He noted that the perimeter wall has an estimated linear loop of more than a kilometer long and that the property is elevated by as much as 1.5 meters above its neighboring properties.

Rafanan further noted that part of the creek within FEP was apparently flattened, but FEP officials said this was already leveled when they bought the property in 1989.

“We hope to find out if FEP is saying the truth with the help of maps from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA),” Rafanan said.