Bulacan gov says flood damage suit not his priority

CITY OF MALOLOS—The Bulacan provincial government won’t be suing the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and other agencies for the September and October floods that submerged Calumpit and Hagonoy towns, but would focus instead on rebuilding the ravaged areas, Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado said on Wednesday.

“Bulacan needs to know who is accountable for the floods so it would not happen again, but we must focus our resources now on rebuilding from the floods,” he said.

He said the provincial government sent out letters to agencies that oversee the Angat Dam, such as Napocor, the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), to secure documents detailing the rate of water the dam had discharged when Typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” struck Central Luzon.

When asked if the provincial government has softened its position on suing Napocor, Sy-Alvarado said: “I am not saying the provincial government will not pursue the case. What if we do file a complaint?”

He said the provincial government must study the rate of water released by Angat Dam (which is operated by Napocor), the Bustos Dam below (which is administered by NIA) and the Ipo Dam (which is overseen by MWSS).

He acknowledged a theory that Bayabas River, which flows through the town of Donya Remedios Trinidad, could have contributed to the high volume of water released last month by Bustos Dam. But he said the provincial government would need to validate that report.

He said the provincial government is now evaluating a proposal to build another reservoir that would capture overflow water from Bayabas River.

Sy-Alvarado said the province has taken note of a 1978 damage case for flooding which it won in court.

He said government now has a flood-control system in place, which it did not have when Typhoon “Kading” struck Bulacan in 1978, unleashing floods that killed almost 200 people.

Jesus Santos, 85, founder of the National Association of Lawyers for Justice and Peace, won the suit in 1993 which compelled Napocor to indemnify with P5 million the heirs of people who died when Angat Dam released water at midnight on Oct. 26, 1978.

“Before, discharges from Angat Dam had no protocol to follow. An investigation of the Kading flood indicated that some of the people in charge of flood control may have been intoxicated [in 1978]. That won’t happen today because even drinking at the facility is illegal,” Sy-Alvarado said. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon