MANILA, Philippines — The San Roque Dam still had excess water of around 100 million cubic meters to get rid of from the storm that devastated a wide swath of Pangasinan and parts of Tarlac and Nueva Ecija and left more than 700 people dead.

On Thursday, two gates were opened to dump the excess water, keeping local executives on heightened alert.

Dennis Gana, spokesperson for the National Power Corp. (Napocor), which owns the dam, said that with huge inflows from the watersheds and the Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet province, the two spillways would remain open until San Roque reaches its normal level of 280 meters above sea level (masl).

Alex Palada, head of the flood forecasting and warning system of Napocor, said Thursday’s opening of the spillways was necessary to bring its volume to its normal level.

At 6 a.m. Thursday, the dam’s water level was 286.7 masl.

Used for power generation and irrigation, the dam captures water released by Binga and Ambuklao dams in upstream Agno River in Benguet.

Mayor Ricardo Revita of the flood-devastated Pangasinan town of Rosales was not taking any chances.

Upon receiving an advisory on Wednesday night that the San Roque Dam was releasing water at 600 cubic meters per second (cms) Thursday, Revita summoned his barangay chiefs and told them to prepare.

Revita also proceeded to the bridge connecting Villasis and Rosales after San Roque Dam, the country’s biggest, opened two spillways to ease pressure from back-to-back storms—“Ondoy” and “Pepeng”—with a low-pressure area threatening.

“I’m now on top of the bridge and I’m trying to assess the volume of water flowing in the river. I think the river can absorb the water being released now,” Revita told the Inquirer.

Mayor Manuel Collado of nearby Alcala town said he had asked residents in three villages along the swollen Agno River to reinforce a portion of the earth dike with sand bags.

“We just wanted to be sure that this dike will not breach in case the water comes here,” Collado said.

No to big dams

In the House of Representatives, two lawmakers announced Thursday that they had filed a resolution calling for the suspension of the construction of huge dams.

“The giant dams are a clear and present danger to lives and property during the rainy season,” the lawmakers said in their resolution. During prolonged dry spells, they don’t help any, they said.

“Small and medium-sized water impounding dams managed and operated by farmers are deemed as safer and cheaper alternatives to giant dams,” they said. “What is needed is a 21st century solution to potable water, irrigation and power needs.”

The Senate committee on climate change is to resume its hearing on Friday on the devastation in Pangasinan. The panel has summoned officials of Angat, Ipo and Pantabangan dams in a bid to put in place disaster management procedures.

At the height of the heavy rains on Oct. 9, San Roque Dam opened all its six spillways for a total release of 5,072 cms. The water spilled was roughly equal to the total discharges of Binga and Ambuklao dams.

Local executives have threatened to sue managers of San Roque Dam for the devastation and deaths caused by widespread flooding, aggravated by the release of water from the swollen facility.

Finger-pointing

Seeking to escape responsibility, officials of government agencies involved in the dam’s activities have been pointing accusing fingers at each other.

Tom Valdez, vice president for corporate social responsibility of the San Roque Power Corp. (SRPC), which operates the dam, said his company followed the instructions issued by Napocor at the height of the storm drenching.

“We coordinated closely with flood control experts from Napocor. Our personnel carried out the instructions of Napocor managers,” he said.

Palada, Napocor’s flood operations manager, said he could only authorize the release of the dam’s excess water of up to 500 cubic meters per second (cms), following the flood operations rule.

“Beyond 500 cms, it’s Pagasa (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) that takes over,” he said.

‘Qualitative forecast’

Dr. Susan Espinueva, head of Pagasa’s flood forecasting branch, said: “That’s not true... They are the ones operating it. We don’t have people there.”

She said Pagasa’s role in the interagency group is to give weather forecasts and tropical storm warnings.

“We issue forecast rainfall. We cannot forecast the volume of rainfall over the watershed. What we give them is qualitative forecast: light, moderate or heavy,” he said.

Espinueva said Pagasa did not have instruments to estimate rain volume.

“We only have the satellite images. We don’t have yet radar over the area,” she said. With reports from Gabriel Gardinoza and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, Carmela Reyes and Anselmo Roque, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Leila B. Salaverria, Michael Lim Ubac and Amy R. Remo in Manila