LRay: PBBM has ordered DPWH to carry out Bicol River Basin master plan
FOR Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte, reversing the worsening flood woes of his province and the rest of the region appears “clearly in sight,” following the most recent directive by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to implement soon enough the updated Bicol River Basin (BRB) Master Plan to address the perennial flooding in Bicol.
President Marcos gave his latest order to the DPWH to carry out this revitalized master plan during the recent meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) of Region V at CamSur’s capital of Pili, on the same day that he led a campaign sortie there for his Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas senatorial slate that drew a record crowd of 80,000 this election season, he said.
Villafuerte said this presidential directive followed Mr. Marcos’ instruction to DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan to revisit this BRB master plan, during his two visits to CamSur last November after supertyphoon Kristine unleashed the worst flooding ever in the province, especially in its low-lying villages in the second and fifth legislative districts.
“We thank the President for putting in motion this revitalized plan to, among others, put an end to our perennial flooding woes, just months after he directed DPWH Sec Manny (Bonoan) during his November visit to CamSur after Kristine’s onslaught to consider reviving the defunct BRBDP, which was put in place by his late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., a half-century ago,” Villafuerte said.
“Given the President’s directive, the mitigation of the chronic flooding of CamSur and the rest of the region appears clearly in sight,” added Villafuerte, who is president of the National Unity Party (NUP).
Villafuerte was referring to the BRBDP, whose revival he had proposed to the past Administration back in the previous two Congresses, and which, fortunately, won the support this time of the incumbent President.
The former governor had actually brought up his BRBDP revival proposal anew to the President, during the latter’s trips to CamSur last Oct. 26 and Nov. 6, actually the second and third presidential trips to this worst Kristine-hit province in Bicol.
But pending the full implementation of this BRB master plan, Villafuerte asked the DPWH during the RDC meeting to dredge the BRB’s low-lying areas, notably the Libmanan-Cabusao and the Nabua-Bato-Baao Lake.
Villafuerte said that dredging these shallow tributaries presents the immediate and feasible solution to check severe flooding in the near future, as the DPWH works on the full implementation of this BRB master plan.
During the RDC meeting in Pili, President Marcos said, “I already instructed the Public Works (DPWH) to come up with a master plan which is appropriate for now. There is no other way to address the flooding problem except to manage the water flowing into the Bicol Region River Basin.”
“At least we have a plan now. We have to implement it properly because the old master plan was not rigorously implemented so we have the same problem,” said the President who stressed that the country needs to adjust because the weather will become more severe with climate change.
Also, he said, the old master plan is no longer suitable for addressing emerging crises.
Bonoan said the DPWH had updated the master plan under the Philippine-Korea Project Facilitation Program, and it has incorporated comprehensive climate data to better manage water flow and mitigate flooding risks.
He told the President at the RDC meeting that, “We have completed the updating of the master plan to include also the basic parameters taking into account the climate change.”
Last year, Villafuerte welcomed the President’s support for the revival of the BRBDP, a defunct project that the former governor believes could rid the region of the chronic overflow of the Bicol River, which floods parts of the province even when typhoons come with only minimal rainfall.
For Bicol’s speedy rehabilitation and recovery, Villafuerte last year appealed to the Congress to pass his pending House Bill (HB) No. 1793 that aims to create a Sustainable Bicol River Development Authority (SBRDA) to oversee the economic development and climate-proofing of this oft-flooded waterway, which is the country’s 8th biggest river system with a total area of 3,771 square kilometers.
Villafuerte, who had filed similar versions of HB 1793 in both the 17th Congress and 18th Congress, said he agreed with the President that the revival of the BRBDP is necessary to, among others, undertake flood-mitigation projects, because the flooding of the Bicol River was largely responsible for last year’s climate-induced worst flooding ever to strike CamSur.
Although the 94-kilometer (km) Bicol River covers CamSur along with Camarines Norte and Albay, 87% of it is in Villafuerte’s province, where the second district that he represents in the House and the province’s fifth district are the lowest points that become the natural catch basin of this river in times of typhoons.
CamSur suffered its worst flooding in 2024 as Kristine unleashed in a single day—according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa)—711 millimeters (mm) of rainfall, or a third more than the previous record of 455 mm of rains that typhoon Ondoy brought with it in 2009.
Because it dumped two months’ worth of rainfall in just one day, Kristine flooded 759 of CamSur’s over 1,000 barangays, with many villages used to knee-deep water during storms suddenly confronted with above-head or even roof-level floods.
Villafuerte said that Kristine affected 1.36 million people in CamSur’s as it inundated 488 villages, of which 216 were totally submerged in floodwaters.
The BRBDP was established by the late President Marcos Sr. in 1973 by virtue of Executive Order (EO) No. 412.
However, the BRBDP was discontinued by the then-Aquino administration in 1986.
Villafuerte said that during the same RDC meeting, the President also gave orders to the Department of Transport (DOTr) to possibly speed up two long-drawn-out transport projects that will give a tremendous boost to the local economies of, and domestic tourism in, CamSur and the rest of Bicol.
He said these connectivity projects that were given priority status by the DOTr, and yet never got off the ground, under the previous Duterte administration are the runway expansion of the Naga Airport, so it can accommodate bigger aircraft, and the Philippine National Railways-South Long Haul (PNR-SLH) or “Bicol Express,” to cut travel time from a half-day to just four hours from Metro Manila to—passing CamSur—Albay or Sorsogon.
Villafuerte had also pushed the implementation of both projects in the previous Duterte administration on the watch of then-DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade and in the first half of the current Marcos government when newly-resigned Jaime Bautista was at the helm of this Department.
“The President gave his fresh orders on the ‘Bicol Express’ and the expansion of the Naga Airport runway to DOTr Undersecretary (Timothy John) Batan during the RDC meeting,” he said.
