RETENTION WALL. The National Housing Authority (NHA) relocation site in Barangay Lugta, Laua-an a day after it was hit by a flashflood on July 7, 2024. Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao has already approved a PHP4-million funding for the construction of a retention wall to prevent flooding in the area. (Photo courtesy of Antique Provincial Housing Affairs and Resettlement Office)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique provincial government has approved a request to allocate PHP4 million for the construction of a retention wall at the National Housing Authority (NHA) relocation site in Barangay Lugta, Laua-an town to prevent flooding.
“Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao, during our chiefs of offices meeting yesterday (July 15, 2024), had already approved the requested PHP4 million for the retention wall in order to address the flooding problem,” Antique Provincial Housing Affairs and Resettlement Office (PHARO) head Eby Butiong said in an interview on Tuesday.
He said the governor has given her approval in addition to the already allocated PHP10 million for the drainage system intended also to address the flooding problem.
Butiong said that of the 770 housing units at the relocation site, 187 are already being occupied by beneficiaries.
He added that housing beneficiaries who have yet able to occupy their units are being advised to wait until the construction of the drainage system is finished in the next two months.
In a separate interview also on Tuesday, Antique provincial engineer Inocencio Dajao Jr. said the funding request was made after an ocular inspection at the relocation site following the flooding on July 7 revealed the need to build an additional retaining wall to prevent water from rushing down from behind the area where the 770 housing units are, and to direct the water to the drainage system that is also being made.
“We need to construct at least a 200-meter retention wall to prevent flooding,” Dajao said.
A knee-deep flashflood happened as a result of the successive rainfall on the first week of July, affecting the housing units that were built for victims of Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. The flashflood subsequently subsided three hours later. (PNA)
