721 families spend Christmas Day in evacuation centers in Bulacan

MALOLOS, Bulacan, Philippines  – A total of 721 families or 3,001 people from the towns of Calumpit and Hagonoy spent Christmas Day in nine evacuation centers.

The provincial disaster risk reduction management office said the affected families were from the villages of Sapang Bayan and Gatbuka in Calumpit town and barangays San Agustin and San Juan of Hagonoy.

The areas are still under floodwaters from Typhoon Nona and from the Angat Dam.

Gov. Wilhelmino Sy Alvarado said continuous relief operations are being provided to flood-affected victims.

Alvarado said most of the victims complained of the excess water released from Angat Dam, lamenting that the National Power Corp. should have held back the release of excess water for a few days until the floods in Pulilan, Calumpit, Hagonoy and Paombong coming from Nueva Ecija and Pampanga have subsided.

Alvarado said the provincial government would file charges against the officials that ordered the release of water from Angat Dam.

The National Power Corp. on the other hand, said it ceased the water spilling operations of Angat Dam on Dec. 23 due to improved weather over the watershed area.

It added the decision to release excess water was in accordance with the agreement of an inter-agency coordination committee composed of top officials and managers of NPC, Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), National Water Resources Board (NWRB), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and National Irrigation Administration (NIA).