MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Tuesday cautioned mayors of calamity-stricken towns in Pangasinan province against demanding the shutdown of the multibillion-peso San Roque Dam, which they blamed for heavy flooding in their areas when Tropical Storm “Pepeng” returned early this month.

Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo said she agreed with officials of National Power Corp. (Napocor) that it was unwise to decommission the San Roque Dam because it supplies the province and nearby areas with power and irrigation water. Napocor manages the facility.

“We should assess what went wrong if there’s indeed someone who should be held liable and accountable for what happened …,” Fajardo, who is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson, said in a media briefing.

“We shouldn’t be hasty about this. We should carefully study this,” she added.

Aside from calling for the dam’s shutdown, the mayors are demanding the dismissal of dam officials responsible for the release of excess water that triggered massive flooding in the province on Oct. 8-10.

Not a joke

The devastation “was not a joke,” Mayor Julier Resuello of San Carlos City said in a meeting of 45 of Pangasinan’s 48 mayors in Dagupan City Tuesday.

“People who were responsible for the flooding should now resign. And even if they have resigned, they should answer for the destruction of the province,” Resuello said.

The flooding left at least 57 people dead, thousands of families homeless, and destroyed about P8 billion worth of property, infrastructure, crops and fisheries.

The mayors had earlier called for the decommissioning of the dam in San Manuel town in Pangasinan, arguing that it lies near a fault line and could break if an earthquake occurred, wiping out the entire province.

Napocor’s side

Their demand, however, “is not a very good way of addressing the issue of flooding,” Napocor spokesperson Dennis Gana said in the Malacañang briefing.

He reminded the local officials that the dam, in fact, “helps in mitigating the flooding” on top of its power and irrigation generating capabilities.

The San Roque Dam “didn’t cause the flood,” Gana said. “What caused the flood was the large volume of rainwater dumped by Pepeng.”

The Napocor official said he wasn’t sure if the mayors’ claim that the dam lies near a fault line was accurate. He, however, said that the Angat Dam in Bulacan province was near an inactive fault line.

‘Losing a lot’

Gana said “a lot will be lost” if the San Roque Dam would be shut down in terms of irrigation water, power generation and local employment.

The dam, he said, “generates 400 to 500 megawatts at any given time. It contributes to the Luzon grid.”

“And then, of course, you have to answer to the finance institutions that provide funds for this project to work. How are we going to pay if it’s not earning? So definitely these are the things we have to consider,” Gana added.

San Carlos Mayor Resuello said his city, which did not experience massive flooding in the past, had lost about P200 million worth of crops.

“We are talking here about the welfare of our people and our province,” he said.

Dam managers did not give local government officials the right information on the reservoir’s discharges.

Floodwater submerged at least half of the 86 villages of San Carlos after a dike in neighboring Bayambang town collapsed and allowed rampaging water released by the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town to penetrate the city and destroyed everything in its path.

Signature drive

News of the mayors’ call for the dam’s closure immediately reached local residents.

Emeliza Mones, director of Clever Kids’ School, which lies along the Agno River dike in Villasis town, said she would volunteer to gather signatures from residents to call for the decommissioning of the dam.

“A dam is a dam. And the danger will always be there,” Mones said.

Vice Gov. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas said residents of eastern Pangasinan also wanted the dam shut down. “Ordinary people have been coming to me to tell me that the dam should be closed,” she said.

House probe

But Pangasinan Rep. Mark Cojuangco urged the local officials to keep their cool and wait for the results of a congressional inquiry into the San Roque Dam’s operations.

Cojuangco, who has taken charge of the probe, said regulators must first determine whether there was a failure of operations or policies that led to the deep floods in Pangasinan.

“Why can’t we wait till the process takes its course? … The House is in recess. It takes cool heads to find the truth,” he said.

“I can understand the mayors’ sentiments, what with the destruction and all. But a dam will lessen if not eliminate floods if it is run effectively. Whether it is for power or water, a dam that overflows because of poor management will cause damage,” Cojuangco said in a text message to the Inquirer.

New protocols

Cojuangco is currently seeking new protocols in releasing dam water ahead of a typhoon, specifically, moderately higher volumes hours before a typhoon makes landfall and before rivers get swollen.

Instead of engaging in finger-pointing, Napocor’s Gana said local officials should cooperate with the agency in implementation of the new protocols and give way to a more scientific study of the cause of flooding.

As part of the interim protocols, Napocor would issue warning signals six hours before the release of water, the weather bureau would issue flood bulletins six hours before the release, and local disaster coordinating councils should have identified evacuation centers.

“We’re not prepared for the heavy rainwater brought by Pepeng. It’s really an abnormal, freak event. Pepeng broke all typhoon records. That’s why in disaster preparedness … maybe we should change parameters and increase assumptions 10 times more,”’ Gana said.

System approach

Issuing warning is not the sole responsibility of Napocor, Gana said.

“It’s a system. And the system has elements, and that includes the NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council), PDCC (Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council), media, Pagasa (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration), Napocor,” the Napocor spokesperson said.

“The system should be working. If one part of the system bogs, the entire system bogs down,” he said.

The other protocols were that Napocor’s warning patrol units would be assisted by the local police in disseminating warning on water release; Napocor and the weather bureau shall give the clearance when spilling has been terminated, and the local disaster coordinating councils shall declare when it is safe to go to one’s home.

Gana said Napocor was tapping the University of the Philippines’ National Institute of Geological Sciences to conduct a comprehensive study on the cause of flooding in Pangasinan, and make this public. With a report from Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.