city planning and development office

city of san fernando, pampanga, philippines

1. Natural Features

1.1 Geographic Location

The City of San Fernando in Pampanga province forms part, and lies at the core of the Central Luzon great plain. It is bounded in the east by the towns ofMexico and north by Angeles City, in the west by Bacolor and in the south by Sto. Tomas (Figure 5-1. Map of Pampanga).

It is approximately 67 kilometers north of Metro Manila. Two (2) critical interregional arterial road connections run through City of San Fernando: The Manila North Road (MNR) a.k.a. MacArthur Highway and the newly rehabilitated North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). These roads link Central Luzon and the Northern Luzon Regions to the National Capital Region. Moreover, an equally important east-west lateral connection i.e. the Gapan-San FernandoOlongapo Road (GSO) also passes through the City. This road provides lateral access from the China Sea (Subic) to the Pacific Ocean (Baler, Aurora) through its interconnection with the Cagayan Valley road and Cabanatuan - Palayan - Baler Road (Figure 5-2 Major Arterial Roads in Central Luzon).

Looking at the regional perspective, the more important crossroads these road networks form i.e. those located at the center or core of Region III, are hosted by City of San Fernando. Because of this, City of San Fernandos geographic location is its very strategic advantage. This may have been the reason why San Fernando was designated as the Capital town of Pampanga as early as 1904 replacing Bacolor. In addition, it also acts as the regional administrative capital of Central Luzon Region (Region III). 1.2 Topography City of San Fernandos slope is within the range of 0-3 percent which is characteristically flat. Information shown in Figure 5-3 includes contour intervals (every 10-meter) and slope sections. These elevation sections are: i) North-south slope section (boundary to boundary) and Eastwest slope section (boundary to boundary). The North-south section starts from Barangay Telabastagan along the MacArthur highway (boundary with Angeles City), passing through Barangay Sindalan, all the way down to GSO road and MacArthur Highway junction, city proper, and finally ending at City of San Fernando-Sto. Tomas boundary. This slope alignment

generally follows the alignment of the MacArthur highway. Its east-west section starts from Barangay San Jose to the Poblacion and ends in Barangay San Juan and San Pedro. Note that this slope orientation follows the San Fernando river (SFR). SFR captures its head waters from Mexico, cuts through City of San Fernando before finally draining to the Third River and/or Pasig-Potrero River. As indicated in the Figure 5-3, the northern most part of the city i.e. Angeles-San Fernando boundary mark along the MacArthur Highway has the approximate elevation of 75 meters above mean sea level (MSL). In contrast, Sindalan and MacArthur-GSO road junction have an elevation of 35 meters and 10 meters above MSL, respectively. The city Poblacion and its south-eastern tip at PNR Railroad in Barangay are 3 meters and 1 meter above the MSL, respectively. The aggregate distance between the southern most and the northern most point is about 16 kilometers. If the ratio of rise in elevation and run (distance) is obtained and multiplied by 100 percent, the result will be the slope measured in terms of percentage. The average slope from this orientation is about 0.44%. By all indications, the area is (Figure 5-3) considered extremely flat but will nonetheless allow surface water to flow. In relation with this, there are about six (6) creeks in City of San Fernando one of which originates from Angeles City that follows the north-south drainage orientation.

figure 5-3 Slope / Contour Map

On the other hand, the east-west lateral section cuts through the Poblacion along the drainage direction of San Fernando River. The elevation proximate to the San Fernando River in the

eastern side at Barangay San Felipe along the Mexico border is about 4 meters above MSL. On the other hand, the elevation on the western flank between Barangay San Juan and San Pedro near the Bacolor boundary is about 3 meters above MSL. The distance between this points or boundaries boundary is about 5 kilometers. As such, the slope is about 0.02 percent which is practically flat. These information partly explains the vulnerability of City of San Fernando to flooding specially those areas along the south bank of the GSO where elevation ranged between 1-10 meters above MSL. Matters were made even worse by lahar flows which silted the main drainage channels of Pampanga particularly thePasig-Potrero River and the Third river. Considering San Fernando River is a tributary to these rive systems, its drainage was also greatly affected making the said areas very vulnerable to flooding. 1.4 Climate As shown in the Modified Coronas System of Climate Classification on Figure 5-4, the City of San Fernando falls under Type I Classification. Areas having Type I climate experience two pronounced seasons, where it is generally dry from December to May and wet from June to November with a maximum rainy period from July to October. This type of climate is generally exposed to the southwest monsoon and gets a fair share of rainfall brought about by the tropical cyclones occurring from July to October. Several meteorological systems or so called natural hazards such as: thunderstorms, cold fronts, inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), easterly wave, tornadoes, monsoons, and tropical cyclones affect the year round distribution of rainfall in the area. The monthly range of temperature is from 20.4C to 34.9C with an annual average ranging from 22.8 C to 32.1C. The warmest temperature recorded was 38.5C while the coldest was 15.1C. The quantity of water vapor in the air measured in percentage ranges in monthly values from 65% to 84% with an annual of 77%. The principal wind regimes affecting the area are the northeast wind flow from January and February, the southwest wind flow form June to September, and the trade winds. The annual prevailing wind in the area is southwesterly. As shown on the Typhoon Occurrence Map in Figure 5-5, the forecasted number of typhoons for the whole of Central Luzon is 5 typhoons in 3 years or 1.67 cyclones / year as predicted by PAGASA based on historical data.

1.5 Local Drainage and Water Bodies Flat lands offer many advantages but the problem on drainage come along with it. During the height of wet season when the soil has reached its water holding threshold, water infiltration becomes nil resulting to surface run-off. As water seeks its own level moving from higher to lower elevation due to the pull of gravity, it is caught by local drainage systems, then to local creeks, and finally to main river systems. In flat areas (e.g. deltaic planes), the rate by which water is discharged by the rivers to the seas is always slower than the rate it is being supplied by the web of creeks within the watershed during peak of wet season. Thus, flooding consequently follows. This idealized process is true in the case of City of San Fernando. San

Fernando River is the biggest and therefore the main drainage channel of the City at least when flood waters are within its carrying capacity.

It must be noted that the inherent weaknesses of these river/creek systems to provide adequate drainage is further amplified by other factors which include but not limited to: i) encroachment of right-of-way (illegal and formal settlers), ii) siltation of water channels, iii) lahar flows iv) illegal disposal of garbage, and to certain extent v) urban sprawl or the unplanned and unregulated property development. 1.6 Hydrogeology Based on the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the predominant subsoil structure for the

whole of Pampanga is Quaternary Alluvium. Alluvium is soil land deposited by a river or other running water. A river is continually picking up and dropping solid particles of rock and dirt from its bed throughout its length. Where the river flow is fast, more particles are picked up than dropped. Where the river flow is slow, more particles are dropped than picked up. Areas where more particles are dropped are called alluvial or flood plains, and the dropped particles are called alluvium. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials. The finer material, or silt, consists of sand and mud. Larger particles, or gravel, are also typically present in a wide range of sizes. In alluvial soils, underground water is abundant which is the case for the City of San Fernando. 2.3 Flood Control and Drainage Around 30 percent of the total land area of City of San Fernando is considered flood prone. As shown in Figure 5-9, these areas are mostly in the poblacion and south of GSO road, and those along major creeks. In August 2004 the entire poblacion was flooded for few days and flooding reached the GSO-MNR junction. This flooding problem is primarily due to silted river channels affected by the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. In October of 1995, lahar flow in PasigPotrero River covered the town proper of Bacolor and silted all other water channels downstream. If not to timely construction of the MEGA dike by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), City of San Fernando may have suffered same fate. Fortunately, it did not. However, it was left with perennial flooding problem since those areas it used to drain its flood waters were already of higher elevation.

Considering that this problem is not only limited to City of San Fernando but also affects several other provinces in Central Luzon namely, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Zambales, the national government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways Mt. Pinatubo Emergency- Project Management Office (DPWH-MPE-PMO), implemented the Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project (PHUMP). As shown in Figure 5-10, PHUMP has five (5) phases. The details of each are discussed below: Phase I The loan became effective on 26 July 1996 and was closed on 26 July 2001. Total project cost was P 2.303 billion. Among the major accomplishments of the project include the i) construction of Bamban and Mabalacat bridges along Manila North Road (MNR) a.k.a. MacArthur Highway, ii) rehabilitation of Magalang-Concepcion by-pass road including the construction of San Francisco Bridge, and iii) channel improvement and training works of Bamban river and portions of Rio-Chico river. Essentially, this project was able to restore the reliability of Manila North Road (Mabalacat and Bamban Section) including the restoration of the Magalang-Concepcion-Capas Road by-pass road and containing of the destructive (lahar deposition and or inundation) potentials of Sacobia-Bamban river. Phase II The loan became effective on 28 March 2000 and is expected to conclude on 28 March 2006. The total project cost is P 4.089 billion. Construction is about to be completed and

among its major components include: i) Rehabilitation/fortification of the Southwest Corner of Megadike, ii) Widening of Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo Road, iii) Baluyut channel improvement, iv) Reconstruction of Mancatian Bridge, v) dredging and pilot excavation at Pasac Delta area and Third River, and vi) conduct of feasibility studies for the other phases of PHUMP. Basically, this on-going project has so far improved the integrity of the Mega dike through its fortification efforts, contributed largely in ensuring the reliability of GSO road, and currently rehabilitates the downstream portions of the Pasig-Potrero river, including the pilot channeling of the Third river to hasten the flow of flood waters especially during the rainy season. Phase III This project is estimated to cost around P 4.130 billion. The scope of works include i) dredging and excavation of Porac-Gumain river, ii) Diversion and channel training works along lower (downstream) Porac-Gumain in the municipality of Lubao, iii) Raising of roads and bridges including the construction of new bridges, and iv) dredging of Pasac-Guagua and Dalan Bapor rivers. It is yet to be implemented. Phase IV This project is estimated to cost around P 3.342 billion. Its major components include i) Third river channel widening, ii) Dredging and excavation of local drainage channels, and iii) Raising of roads and bridges including the construction of new bridges. This component is yet to be implemented also. Phase V This is the concluding phase of rehabilitation works under PHUMP which will be concentrated in the Province of Zambales. The project is under master planning/ feasibility preparation stage funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Entitled Sabo and flood control works for western river basins, the project will cover the municipalities of San Marcelino, San Narciso, Botolan, Cabanggan, San Felipe, among others. The implementation of PHUMP II, III, and IV has a direct effect in addressing drainage problem of San Fernando City. These projects are intended to reduce to minimum if not eliminate flooding in the affected municipalities and cities of Pampanga namely: Lubao, Sasmuan, Guagua, and San Fernando City (P), among others. Notwithstanding this initiative of the national government, local drainage is still the the responsibility of the local government unit concerned. As such, San Fernando (P) city still have to address its internal drainage problems. 5.2 Global Gateways Integrating the different economic zones in the region to form a virtual mega economic zone in order to achieve maximum complementation is one of the strategies currently being pursued in the region. Under the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development (SCAD) development framework (Figure 5-14), Subic andClark will act as the growth poles or development catalysts by transforming them into countrys GLOBAL GATEWAYS. Clark will be our global gateway for international air transportation while Subic is the global gateway for international sea transport. This is the initiative of then Congressman Oscar S. Rodriguez, now the Mayor of the City of San Fernando. This may be done by optimizing the comparative advantage of each zone and then enhancing the physical link between them in order to achieve synergism. Airport facilities in Clark will be

developed and upgraded at par with world standards. The same is true with Subic for its naturally protected and deep harbor not to mention its strategic location in the Asia Pacific Region. Connecting Clark and Subic through an expressway (Construction of Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway is currently on-going) which can be negotiated within less than an hour will make the locators access the air and sea ports facilities the shortest time possible. Extending it up to Tarlac will also benefit the locators of the Luista Industrial Park (LIP). The newly rehabilitated North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) is now the fastest link of the different industrial estates in Bulacan for their supply and export requirements. The locators of the different ecozones and industrial estates in Bataan, in addition to their own port facilities, may also access the facilities in Clark and Subic through the Roman Highway. All other industrial estates in Central Luzon may benefit once the key arterial road networks of the region are improved, expanded, or rehabilitated.

While it can be clearly seen that a multi-axis urban form is being promoted under the SCAD framework primarily to disperse development other than concentrating it in a single area, it

cannot be avoided for the center (i.e. Clark) to have a natural advantage. Clark area is planned to emerge as a multi-modal transportation hub in the future. DMIA will be the future international gateway of the country. Northrail will connect Clark to Metro Manila. SCTEP, NLEX, and MNR converge at Clark. As such, the primacy of Clark and its eventual role as the center of the mega economic zone is very apparent. The City of San Fernando City must be able to take advantage of these future developments by aligning its socio-economic and physical development plans with SCAD/Global gateways development strategy. One way of doing it is to agglomerate itself to areas immediately surrounding the core. The Metro Clark framework of development is worth revisiting as discussed herein.

Basically, Metro Clark calls for synchronized and coordinated development efforts by and among the participating local government units (LGUs). One particular area of concern that has to be collectively addressed is circulation and access in order to avoid congestion. Other problems associated with metropolitan areas that has to be looked into includes urban sprawl, squatting, pollution, conflicting land uses, etc.