Airport solution tests resilience of Bulacan residents

Up in the air or deep into the floods?

- By Gerard De La Peña

Flooding during typhoons is a fact of life for residents of Barangay Taliptip, a small fishing village in Bulacan.

"Sanay na naman kami. Pero syempre, sa kada bagyo o kalamidad na dumating, nandun pa rin ang pangamba (We are used to this. But of course, for every typhoon and calamity that comes, the fear is still there)," said Michael Ramos, Taliptip's barangay captain.

Ramos' fear became Taliptip residents' reality when Super Typhoon Carina inundated portions of Metro Manila and Central and Southern Luzon last July. No one expected what unfolded before their eyes.

"We experienced very high levels of floodwaters. It looks like it's worse compared to last year. The water reached up to my neck," recalled Julie de la Cruz, a resident of Taliptip.

More than 800 Taliptip residents were forced to evacuate at the nearby public school at the peak of Carina's onslaught, worse than the usual knee-level flooding.

Residents blame the severe flooding in the area to the construction of the multi-billion peso New Manila International Airport being built in Barangays Taliptip and Bambang in Bulakan, Bulacan.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the proponent of the new airport project, debunked this, stating that even before it commenced construction activities, the province of Bulacan has been one of the top 10 flood-prone areas in the country, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Bulakan is among the flood-prone towns of the province.

This has led SMC to initiate dredging and river cleanup activities early on into the project.

Still, local civil society organizations and communities have raised concerns over the new airport and its impact on the environment and displaced residents.