Bayan wants San Roque Dam decommissioned

MANILA, Philippines - The government was asked yesterday to decommission the San Roque Dam to stop the flooding in Pangasinan.

Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary-general, said they support the filing of charges against the officials of the dam.  

“The people at the San Roque Power Corporation and the National Power Corporation now must be held accountable,” he said.

“If the dam was opened earlier, this could have gradually released water and given the people some lead time to evacuate and prepare for contingencies.

“What happened instead was that the sudden rush of water, at a rate of 5,000 cubic meters per second, gave the public very little time to respond and evacuate.”

Reyes said both public officials and private operators of the dam must be held accountable for the sudden and devastating release of water that flooded most of Pangasinan in a matter of hours.

“Data from Pagasa show that there was basis to release water as early as Oct. 4 when the water levels breached the 280 meter mark,” he said.

“It appears, however, that the interest of power generation won out over public safety. The people at the San Roque Power Corp. and the National Power Corp. now must be held accountable.”

Bayan will be consulting with its local chapter in Pangasinan on the possibility of joining legal action against dam officials, he added.

Reyes said the Cordillera People’s Alliance has long opposed the construction and operation of the San Roque Dam, which is considered one of the biggest in Asia.

The San Roque Dam has a surface area of 12.8 kms. and can hold up to 850 million cubic meters of water, he added.

Its construction was funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Reyes said.

In Quezon province, board member Vicente Alcala has condemned the construction of the P52-billion Laiban Dam project of San Miguel Bulk Water Co., Inc. near the towns of Real, Infanta and General Nakar on the possibility that floods similar to those in Metro Manila, Pangasinan, Rizal, Mountain Province and other parts of Northern Luzon could devastate the province. Until now no resolution from the Sangguniang Panlalawigan has been passed in connection to the Laiban Dam, he added. – Katherine Adraneda, Dennis Carcamo, Michelle Zoleta, Cecille Suerte-Felipe