MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 2) Several lawmakers on Wednesday convened to discuss the investigation on the water release from the San Roque Dam at the height of typhoon Pepeng which submerged parts of Pangasinan province.

Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco, who presided over the meeting, called for a creation of an ad hoc committee on dams management and safety.

In a privilege speech on October 13, Cojuangco of the province’s fifth district, said the dam operators released water from San Roque Dam beyond the capacity of the Agno River water system that caused “tremendous devastation” to the province.

Representatives Ma. Rachel Arenas of the third district, Conrado Estrella III of the sixth district, and Abono party-list Representative Robert Raymund Estrella attended the meeting. Formal investigation is expected to begin when session resumes on November 9.

Cojuangco said the ad hoc committee would inquire on the procedures and regulations governing dam water release and look into the carrying capacity of the downstream river systems of the San Roque Dam system.

The committee would also make recommendations on the formulation of a protocol for the release of water from the dam system—determining the downstream river capacity, setting the circumstances when to increase the said capacity, and setting limits to the maximum allowable release rates by the dam system.

He said that after the probe on the San Roque Dam system, the committee may also look into the condition of other dams in the country.

Cojuangco had said the design of structure of the Agno River water system allows it to carry a maximum capacity of 4,000 cubic meters per second. Each of the three other tributary systems in the province has an inflow of 1,000 cubic meters per second.

“What happened during the height of the rain was that San Roque Dam released for more that 10 hours water at the level of 5,700 cubic meters per second, exceeding the capacity of the Agno River water system,” he said in his speech.

As of October 13, damage to infrastructure and crops in areas affected by typhoon Pepeng, including Pangasinan, had reached P7.1 billion.