Repair of Candating flood control done by April—Gonzales

The flood control project in Candating, Arayat, Pampanga will be repaired at no cost to the government. 

Thus said Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. following his recent consultation with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and local executives at the House of Representatives.

“The project, a 110.2-meter flood mitigation structure, suffered damage due to a combination of natural forces and design vulnerabilities,” Gonzales, a civil engineer, told the consultation meeting.

The consultation was attended by officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and local executives.

“The repair is expected to be completed by April 2025 at no cost to the government, as the project is still under warranty (by the contractor),” said Gonzales, whose district includes the town of Arayat.

“Officials are also considering additional measures to prevent future occurrences,” he said.

A part of the flood control structure collapsed at the height Super Typhoon Carina last August.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR looked into the incident and concluded that the cave-in “resulted from riverbank failure caused by over-saturation of the underlying soil layers with groundwater brought about by heavy rainfalls from Super Typhoon Carina and enhanced southwest monsoon.”

During the meeting, Gonzales also addressed speculations that he and his family were the contractor of the Candating flood control project.

“There is a lot of fake news spreading, trying to link me and my family to the destruction of the dike. For everyone’s knowledge, neither I nor my family had anything to do with the implementation of this program,” he said in Tagalog.

“I make it clear that my only contribution is to look for funds to build important projects in the third district of Pampanga, such as the Candating dike. That’s all. I am very grateful to the DPW that tHhis project was included in their priority) programs,” Gonzales added.

“And just to set the record straight: I am not the contractor of the Candating dike. I have nothing to do—nor my family—with how this project was implemented,” he stressed.

Gonzales assured his constituents that despite the malicious innuendoes, he would continue to work for the improvement of his district and the province of Pampanga.

The DPWH has confirmed that Gonzales or his family was not the contractor of the Candating project. It identified the contractor as Eddmari Construction and Trading Co.