Bacolod Mayor Greg Gasataya*
Mayor Greg Gasataya said he is leaving it to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Office of the President to review flood control projects implemented by Legacy Construction Corp. in Bacolod City.
Flood control projects implemented in the city are based on a 2017 Comprehensive Drainage Master Plan made by the DPWH, he said.
The DPWH is the agency with the information on the progress of such projects, Gasataya said.
“Let us just allow the DPWH to do whatever it is doing right now,” he said.
Legacy Construction Corporation, headed by its president, Negrense Alex H. Abelido, topped the list of 15 contractors named by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to have cornered 20 percent of the country’s flood control projects since 2022.
Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Tuesday said he was told that about 22 percent of the DPWH flood control projects in Bacolod City were awarded to Legacy Construction Corp.
Legacy had been awarded about six flood control projects in Bacolod City from 2022 to 2024, amounting to more than P600 million, and five have been completed, Benitez said.
Gasataya said the city government is continuing to check on areas that need to be declogged, so they can be funded and acted on to prevent flooding.
The battle against flooding needs the support of everybody, he said.
“No matter how hard we work to clear waterways, if people continue to throw their waste anywhere, it will be difficult,” he said.
The mayor said he is having a study conducted on raising the penalty for people caught littering as one of the city’s measures to prevent flooding.*