Pampanga Floods: Can the Arguing Stop? Time to Work Together.

 

Pampanga Floods: Can the Arguing Stop? Time to Work Together.

A day ago, I was YouTube channel-surfing when I came across a segment titled, “PBBM, Pampanga officials debate on proposed Candaba impound system as flood solution.” Thinking it was current news, I watched it attentively.

Then I realized something that surprised me.

The debate was actually from 2023—three years ago!

In the discussion, they considered using 200 hectares of the 2,000-hectare Candaba Swamp as a water-impounding area. Pampanga officials strongly opposed the idea and preferred dredging the rivers.

President Marcos was not convinced that dredging alone would solve the problem. He argued that heavy rains bring not only enormous amounts of water from the highlands but also silt, which can eventually fill the rivers again.

I am no engineer, so I cannot say who is right.

But three years have passed, and Pampanga is still suffering from serious flooding.

So I began wondering: What happened during those three years?

I found out the government hasn't simply been sitting on its hands.

In 2024, the government inaugurated a ₱7.57-billion flood-control project covering Minalin, Masantol, Macabebe, and Sto. Tomas. In simple terms, the project was supposed to improve several rivers and waterways by dredging, widening, and excavating them, and by building other flood-control structures.

The government said that when the project was completed, flooding in these areas could be reduced from 66 days to 17 days.

That sounds very encouraging.

But today, in 2026, we are still seeing severe flooding.

So I am not saying that the project failed. I don't know enough to say that. Perhaps parts of it are still unfinished. Other parts of the overall project are needed before the full benefit can be realized.

But I think ordinary people have a right to ask:

Where are we now? What has been completed? What remains unfinished? And has the project achieved what it was supposed to achieve?

My roots are in Minalin, Pampanga. Although I no longer live there, Pampanga will always be my home. Two of my siblings and many relatives still live there. So when I see my fellow Cabalens suffering from flooding, I cannot help but feel for them.

I don't know whether dredging is the answer. I don't know whether water impounding is the answer. And I certainly don't know what the best flood-control solution is.

But surely the government does.

Why do we still seem to be debating these things separately?

Perhaps what Pampanga needs is one clear direction—someone, or an existing government body, with enough authority to bring everyone together: DPWH, DENR, DA, NIA, PAGASA, the provincial government, and the municipalities.

Let the experts decide what to do.

But let them work from one plan, not several competing plans.

Flooding does not care which municipality it is in. Water flows across boundaries, so our flood-control efforts should, too.

I am only an ordinary Cabalen looking at this from the outside. I don't have the answers.

But after three years, and after billions of pesos have already been spent, I think we can reasonably ask:

Can we stop arguing about whose solution is right and start working together on one long-term plan?

Because in the end, this is not about PBBM versus Pampanga officials.

It is about our people. It is about Pampanga.