Laguna farmers appeal to GMA for dam’s repair

PILA, Laguna — Farmers’ groups, agriculturists and local officials in at least five municipalities in Laguna have appealed to President Arroyo to release an emergency fund for the repair of a dam that collapsed at the height of typhoon "Milenyo" last Sept. 28.

If the Sta. Cruz diversion dam is not immediately repaired, they fear that nearly 2,000 hectares of farmlands may go dry.

In a dialogue at the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) office here last Friday, the farmers expressed disappointment after they were told that the dam’s repair would take at least two years.

Engineer Efren Roqueza, NIA-Region 4 chief, said the dam’s collapse left 1,865 hectares of ricefields in Liliw, Sta.Cruz, Victoria, Nagcarlan and Pila towns without irrigation.

He said the repair of the dam would cost about P100 million.

During the dialogue, Roqueza bewailed the unabated quarrying downstream of the Sta. Cruz River.

"We are continuously appealing to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to stop or at least regulate the issuance of permits to quarry so as not to destroy the dam," he said.

Roqueza said his office has filed a letter-request to the DENR in the 1990s, but it has been unacted upon.

"The riverbed, at this point, is severely scoured due to the quarrying of boulders and aggregates," he said.

Sta. Cruz Mayor Domingo Panganiban, representing the provincial mayors’ league, suggested to the farmers’ groups to appeal directly to Malacañang and present the urgency of their request.

Roqueza said the entire Calabarzon area — composed of the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon — suffered at least P200 million in damage to irrigation facilities and P233 million in crop losses. — With Ed Amoroso