Robredo wants probe into severe Cagayan flooding, release of dam water

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday said there should be a formal investigation into the severe flooding in Cagayan, adding that there was “definitely an oversight.”

“Were they [residents] warned enough na there was really danger of heavy floods of this magnitude? Kailangan talaga ng investigation kasi (We really need an investigation because) if we wouldn’t have a formal investigation, the danger that it would happen again, sooner or later, talagang nandon (is really there),” Robredo said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

Robredo, over the weekend, visited flood-stricken areas in Cagayan and nearby provinces.

“It was definitely an oversight, pero who committed the oversight, I do not have enough data to say na (that it was the) dam operators ito or kung sino man (or whoever),” she said.

“There was definitely an oversight kasi dapat na-anticipate considering na nagkaroon tayo ng Quinta, Rolly,” she added.

(But there was definitely an oversight because we should have anticipated this considering the onslaught of Quinta and Rolly.)

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) and dam operators were earlier blamed for the heavy flooding that submerged houses in Isabela and Cagayan when Typhoon Ulysses swamped the provinces last week.

Robredo also backed the calls of some sectors to investigate how the NIA managed the release of water from dams.

“It is very necessary to prevent it from happening again,” she said, adding that the heavy flooding was due to a “confluence of many factors.”

“Yung release hindi nila na-expect na the effects would be this worse. Kasi yung sinasabi nila, umulan na nang umulan. There were several typhoons already before Ulysses,” she added.

(They did not expect the effects of releasing the water would be this worse. Because there were constant rains. There were several typhoons already before Ulysses.)

Robredo said that previous typhoons that came before Ulysses caused the soil in these provinces to be saturated, preventing it from absorbing more water.

“Sobrang saturated na yung lupa na siguro kung wala yung mga previous typhoons, the soil would have absorb more water than it was able to during Ulysses,” she said.

(The soil was so saturated that if the previous typhoons did not happen, the soil would have absorbed more water than it was able to during Ulysses.)

JE