BY LYNDIE DEFACTO
ILOILO City – Department of Public Works and Highways – Iloilo City District Engineering Office (DPWH-ICDEO) district engineer Roy Pacanan has accused the Iloilo City Council of turning its planned inquiry into waterway projects into a “political demolition” rather than a legitimate legislative probe.
In a letter to Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Environment chair Councilor Romel Duron, who heads the quad-committee investigation set for August 11, Pacanan insisted that only Congress and the Senate have the authority to conduct such probes. He outlined three points that he said the council must address if it proceeds.
First, Pacanan said the council’s invitation failed to cite any ordinance necessitating the investigation, and urged the city government to review or update its Flood Control Master Plan to align with DPWH’s programs.
Second, he noted that if the probe stems from Councilor Rex Sarabia’s privilege speech linking city flooding to DPWH projects, the ICDEO had already answered this and reminded the council to base issues on verified facts rather than “cherry-picking” information for political purposes.
Pacanan stressed that their July 25, 2025 letter to Mayor Raisa Treñas already stated that DPWH projects did not cause flooding in the city.
Third, the district engineer said the wording of SP Resolution No. 2025-735 suggested the council had “prematurely drawn a conclusion of fault” even before the investigation began.
“Given the aforesaid conclusion, the intended investigation may not be in aid of legislation but in aid of political demolition,” Pacanan wrote.
Pacanan argued that flooding in affected areas such as Barangay Tagbak in Jaro district is a decades-old problem worsened by developments like residential subdivisions and private cemeteries that altered natural waterways.
The city’s low-lying coastal geography, he added, makes it naturally prone to river flooding during heavy rains.
He also questioned why letters from district barangay liga presidents bore identical wording, and said the matter had been referred to the DPWH Central Office due to “manifest bias and antagonism” from some city government officials.
The council’s investigation — to be jointly led by the City Council’s committees on Environment, Public Works, Disaster Relief, and Public Safety — will cover DPWH projects at Buntatala Creek, Dungon Creek, Calubihan/Desamparados Creek, and the mouth of the Iloilo River in Barangay Mohon, Arevalo district.
The city earlier claimed these projects worsened flooding during recent storms, prompting a state of calamity that affected over 50,000 residents./PN
