{"id":276307,"date":"2020-11-23T02:50:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T07:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=276307"},"modified":"2020-11-23T02:50:25","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T07:50:25","slug":"gordon-says-its-time-to-desilt-laguna-de-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/23\/gordon-says-its-time-to-desilt-laguna-de-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon says it\u2019s time to desilt Laguna de Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Senator Richard Gordon called for desilting the Laguna de Bay to prevent another massive flooding that Metro Manila and nearby Calabarzon experienced during Typhoon Ulysses. (File photo<\/a>: Dick Gordon\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Senator Richard Gordon called for desilting the Laguna de Bay to prevent another massive flooding that Metro Manila and nearby Calabarzon experienced during Typhoon Ulysses.<\/p>\n

Gordon said desilting Laguna de Bay would increase the lake\u2019s holding capacity for rainwater and floodwater, which would spare surrounding communities from being submerged during the typhoon or rainy season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about time that we desilt Laguna De Bay.\u00a0Kung ide<\/em>-desilt,\u00a0lalalim \u2018yan. Noong nananalanta ang bagyong<\/em>\u00a0Ulysses,\u00a0umabot ng<\/em>\u00a013.6 above sea level\u00a0na lagpas na sa<\/em>\u00a0maximum critical level\u00a0nitong<\/em>\u00a012.5 meters\u00a0kaya nakadagdag pa ito sa pagbaha<\/em>\u00a0(Desilting will make it deeper. During Ulysses\u2019 onslaught, it reached 13.6 above sea level which is above the lake\u2019s maximum critical level of 12.5 meters and that\u2019s why it contributed to flooding),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gordon said the bay should be rehabilitated and cleared of fish pens so it could be developed into a tourism attraction and an alternate mode of transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cKasi unang-una, napaka<\/em>-polluted\u00a0n\u2019yan. Madumi d\u2019yan so dapat ayusin na ang<\/em>\u00a0Laguna de Bay.\u00a0Ang narinig ko mayroong<\/em>\u00a0USD30-million assistance\u00a0na ino-<\/em>offer\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0Hungary\u00a0para sa<\/em>\u00a0rehabilitation\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Laguna Lake.\u00a0Napakaganda ng<\/em>\u00a0offer\u00a0na \u2018yan<\/em>. I suppose na kay [Foreign Affairs] Sec. [Teodoro] Locsin na \u2018yan at sa kinauukulan kung tatanggapin nila (That is already polluted, murky so Laguna de Bay should be rehabilitated. I\u2019ve heard that Hungary offered USD30 million for rehabilitation of Laguna Lake. That was good offer. It\u2019s now up to Secretary Locsin and concerned agency if they will accept the offer),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his government has proposed a USD30-million assistance to the Philippine government for the rehabilitation and water treatment of Laguna Lake. He added a formal offer was made during his bilateral meeting with Locsin.<\/p>\n

Hungary is known to have the expertise and capability in terms of water management and treatment. It has been credited for successfully improving water condition in Lake Balaton, a freshwater lake in the country\u2019s western region and the largest in Central Europe. Lake Balaton has since been transformed into a bustling tourist destination.<\/p>\n

Laguna de Bay, which has a total surface area of 900 square kilometers, is the biggest lake and one of the most important inland bodies of water in the country. It is also the second biggest inland freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n

Over the years, efforts to rehabilitate Laguna Lake have been delayed due to legal challenges and setbacks.<\/p>\n

In 2012, former President Benigno Aquino junked an PHP18.7-billion rehabilitation deal entered into by his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, with Belgian firm Baggerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDC), citing irregularities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Senator Richard Gordon called for desilting the Laguna de Bay to prevent another massive flooding that Metro Manila and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":262158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-pr","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276331,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276307\/revisions\/276331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}