Masantol officials ask JODAs: Resume trip to Masantol, vice versa

MASANTOL - To address the transportation woes of commuters in this town, local officials of Masantol have asked the jeepney operators and drivers associations (JODAs) based here to resume their trips going in and out of the municipality. During yesterday’s Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council emergency meeting held at the Municipal Hall, Mayor Danilo Guintu and Committee on Transportation Chairman Councilor Boboy Lacap talked with officials of San Fernando-ApalitMasantol JODA and DAMAYAN JODA to allot at least five jeepneys each that can ply the route of Masantol daily.

Since the start of the construction of Caduang Tete Bridge and the flooded area in Apalit-MacabebeMasantol road, Guintu sai d passenger jeepneys have either cut their trip up to Barangay Caduang Tete in Macabebe, or have stopped their operation.

“We understand that they too are having difficulties plying the route. All we ask is to help people who really need to travel,” he said.

Residents of Barangay Caduang Tete here have mobilized their bancas as an alternative to the usual transport system that has been paralyzed to transfer passengers who are stranded by floods.

Ric Viray, a banca driver, said that the Barangay Caduang Tete portion of the ApalitMacabebe-Masantol Provincial Road is not passable to light vehicles while passenger jeepneys cannot access the area due to the ongoing construction of the Caduang Tete bridge.

“There are tricycles that brave the floods but get stranded along the way because there are areas where water is waist deep. This leaves working people no choice but ride bancas,” he said.

Viray said that banca drivers like him charge P10 per passenger for a near kilometer ride from the Caduang Tete bridge up to Barangay San Gabriel in the same town.

“This is a big help to us like if we earn P200, we already have money to buy food. Even if we are in an adverse situation like this, we find opportunity in adversity and help people who really need to get to their destination,” he said.

The situation is the same in the whole Macabebe and the adjacent town of Masantol, whose transport systems are almost paralyzed and are mostly reliant on either passenger bancas or free rides offered by the local government unit and generous private individual s.

Based on the most recent data of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the whole towns of Macabebe and Masantol are submerged in almost five feet or neck-deep floodwaters, including its major thoroughfares.

Being the catch basin of floodwaters in the region, the flooding in both towns, especially in the coastal areas, is expected to rise once the water from the upstream goes down and takes an exit at the Pampanga River going to the Manila Bay.