Floodwaters brought by Typhoon Cosme would have kept the town of Santa Barbara, Pangasinan, under water until now, destroyed more crops and brought untold suffering, had it not been for the building of breached flood-control dikes and the repair of irrigation canals during the dry months.

Instead, it was the town of Calasiao, downstream of the Sinocolan and Tolong Rivers that empty at Dagupan City, that remain submerged.

Mayor Reynaldo Velasco, in his first year as chief executive of the town, was able to source P120 million for the repair of badly destroyed irrigation canals and another P13 million to close the gaps on critical flood-control dikes along the two mighty rivers that cross through his town.

Funding for the flood-control dikes were sourced from local taxes—P5 million from the Department of Public Works and Highways, another P5 million and P3 million pitched in by the Department of National Defense.

Velasco said he put top priority to the twin projects since Santa Barbara was perennially known as the most flood-prone town in Pangasinan. Most of the villages near the banks of its two rivers found their homes and fields underwater whenever river water overflowed in past years. Nothing, however, flowed down the irrigation canals to half of all irrigable lands that got water- starved during the dry months.

Velasco reported another big- ticket project he finished in his first year in office was the construction of new school buildings and the renovation of old ones.

“When classes start after Independence Day next month, we will be ready with 80 new and refurbished school buildings with a total of 150 classrooms and other school facilities,” Velasco reported.

All the new classrooms were provided with individual toilets, while the offices of school principals in all 29 barangays have been provided with private shower rooms. Each of the barangay schools were given between one and two classrooms each.

In just one year, he said, Santa Barbara will have enough school rooms to accommodate all the town’s schoolchildren. 

Clark chief still upbeat on CL open skies

PREVIOUSLY reported by Executive Secretary Eduardo as a virtual goner, Executive Order (EO) 500-B, which will further liberalize the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA), is very much alive and could actually be signed by President Arroyo soon if her body language were made as basis.

CABANATUAN CITY—Suspected hired killers are roaming Nueva Ecija, leaving at least five dead in a span of one month.

The latest incidents happened in separate places on Sunday.

PRESIDENT Arroyo has chosen Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to serve as presidential spokesman in a concurrent capacity once Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye assumes his new job as Monetary Board member on July 3.

SENATE President Manuel Villar wants the government to lay out a multiyear police-modernization program that would put premium on police visibility and provide law enforcers ready equipment.

THE Department of Education (DepEd) has launched its annual Oplan: Balik Eskwela (OBE) to ensure smooth school opening on June 10 for the 20.8 million public and private elementary and secondary students.

Floodwaters brought by Typhoon Cosme would have kept the town of Santa Barbara, Pangasinan, under water until now, destroyed more crops and brought untold suffering, had it not been for the building of breached flood-control dikes and the repair of irrigation canals during the dry months.

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday expressed confidence that it would be able to weed out multiple registrants in time for the August polls in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).