A portion of the P91-million newly-constructed slope protection structure caved in Barangay Candating, Arayat, Pampanga on Saturday endangering the lives of residents in the area.
Candating Barangay Captain Marly Pineda told iOrbitNews that more than 20 residential houses are in danger of being engulfed by the sink hole believed created by alleged liquefaction.
The slope protection project is located near the Pampanga River system. The project which is being done by Eddmari Construction & Trading, involves the “Construction/Maintenance of Flood Mitigation Structures and Drainage Systems and Rehabilitation of Eroded Pampanga River Bank at Candating (Phase 2), Arayat, Pampanga.”
Pineda said three houses among the 10 houses fronting the slope protection had already been abandoned by their tenants for safety purposes. The residents of the three houses moved to their relatives, according to Pineda.
Pineda said the Candating Barangay Hall can accommodate one family.
Pineda said government engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had already inspected the 100-meter portion of the slope protection structure and will immediately make engineering intervention.
Based on the billboard installed near the ongoing project which is funded by General Appropriations Act (GAA), the flood mitigation project started in March 4, 2024, is set to be finished on November 4, 2024.
The flood mitigation structure costs P91,485,522.95.
Indignant residents urged an impartial investigation on the said construction of the flood mitigation project noting it endangers the lives of residents and only put people’s money into wastes.
“Siguro po kailangan tignan nila kung gaano kahaba yung mga sheet files na ibinaon nila sa project. Mayroon po kasi mga reports na maiksi ang mga sheet files na binaon,” said one resident who asked not to be named.
Liquefaction is a process where water seeps underground and saturate the soil resulting to a ground failure.
DPWH sees ‘structural failure’
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Pampanga 1st District Engineering Office (DEO), together with the Arayat Municipal Engineer’s Office and the Arayat Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), had conducted an initial assessment of the collapsed dike to avert further destruction.
Government engineers said a 30 to 50-meter section from Station 0+030 to Station 0+060 in the ongoing Rehabilitation of the Eroded Bank of the Pampanga River had collapsed, with the steel sheet piles deflected primarily due to the saturation of the embankment.
In a report dated August 18, 2024, Project Engineer Emiljan Quito informed Pampanga 1st District Engineer Almer Miranda that the incident caused the sheet piles to bend and the deadman anchors to shift from their original positions. This saturation had been exacerbated by recent typhoons and water seepage from nearby residential areas, which caused undue stress on the structure. The combined weight of the sheet piles and concrete capping further contributed to the structural failure.
They added that a whirlpool-like formation on the river side of the sheet piles may had further penetrated the embankment, worsening the saturation and leading to the collapse of the structure.
The DPWH-Pampanga 1st District Engineering Office has initiated sandbagging operations, which will be carried out by the contractor’s team to temporarily mitigate the impact of the incident and ensure the safety of nearby households