"Chedeng" left about 12 people dead and wreaked damage estimated at P50 million, excluding P30 million in losses to the fisheries sector in Dagupan City alone.
This, despite repeated assurances from President Arroyo herself that the San Roque Dam had nothing to do with the flooding problem. She visited the cities of Urdaneta and Dagupan, two of the worst-hit by the floods, last Thursday.
Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino told The STAR in a phone interview that he would ask the provincial board’s secretariat to invite officials from the different agencies concerned, including those running the Binga, Ambuklao and San Roque dams, National Power Corp., Office of Civil Defense, Agno Flood Control Project and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), to the board’s "question hour" next week.
Lambino said the inquiry would help them come up with measures to prevent flooding in Pangasinan in the future.
He said it would also clarify persistent questions on the minds of some town mayors and Pangasinenses that the San Roque Dam could be the culprit for the flooding.
Lambino, who presides over the Sangguniang Panlalawigan, attended the symbolic inauguration of the San Roque Dam at Malacañang at the height of typhoon "Chedeng."
He quoted Pat MacAllister, president of the firm running the San Roque Dam, as saying that the dam’s capacity is "10 times the volume of water ‘Chedeng’ brought to Pangasinan."
"I believe him because some towns which used to be flooded were spared," he said.
Lambino, however, said the inquiry could "shed light on the matter so people would know the cause."
He noted that rainwater from the uplands goes downstream and contributes to flooding in the province.
Urdaneta City Mayor Amadito Perez Jr., however, wondered why many areas in the town proper were flooded for the first time, with the floodwaters in his residence even reaching waist-deep.
But Mayors Roy Macanlalay, Alfonso Soriano and Leo de Vera of Calasiao, Malasiqui and Bayambang, respectively, said the situation last week was different because the Agno River rose silently, unlike when water is released from the Binga Dam.
Some barangays that used to be flooded were spared, while others were inundated for the first time.
Meanwhile, Ray Cunningham, vice president and project officer of the San Roque Dam Project, told The STAR in a phone interview that the dam "is not capable of discharging any water at this time because the reservoir is well below spillway crest elevation."
Cunningham reacted to Dagupan City Mayor Benjamin Lim’s query on where the floodwaters could have come from. Lim noted that the Binga and Ambuklao dams did not release water at the height of "Chedeng."
He said he welcomes the inquiry of the provincial board.
Cunningham added that San Manuel, where the dam is situated, would have been the first to be flooded if they released water.