Gov’t threatens to blow up illegal structures, pens.

By Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 14, 2012

Action speaks louder than words when it comes to almost everything, including issuing threats to squatters’ homes that clog waterways.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson on Saturday said the national government would go to the extent of blowing up structures that block waterways to ease flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.

Tough talk

If only Malacañang can translate his words into action and finally muster the political will to relocate 125,000 families in the metropolis alone.

Following a Cabinet meeting presided over by President Aquino, Singson disclosed plans to “blast all of the illegal pens in waterways” in Laguna Lake and to “remove” all obstructions within water channels in Luzon to solve, once and for all, the perennial flooding in these areas.

At a briefing, Singson said the government would forcibly remove all illegal structures to clear water channels of all “obstructions,” be they houses or fish pens.

The President created an interagency body headed by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo to implement this plan.

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