Nona, dam water release leave P54 M agriculture damage

MALOLOS, Philippines – Damage to crops caused by Typhoon Nona and the release of water from Angat, Ipo and Bustos Dams breached P54 million in Bulacan alone.

More than 2,000 hectares of rice fields were flooded and over P25 million worth of palay was destroyed in the province, Liz Mungcal, executive officer of Bulacan disaster risk reduction and management office, said yesterday.

Mungcal said more than 200 vegetable farmers in the third district were affected while damage to crops reached over P3 million. Damage to the fisheries sector was placed at P26.152 million with 1,768.35 hectares of fishponds inundated. 

The provincial government of Bulacan had said it is preparing to file a class suit against several government agencies over the release of water from the dams.

In a statement, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) said the release of water from Angat Dam stopped at 2 p.m. yesterday as the weather over the Angat watershed continues to improve. 

It said the decision to release water from the dam was in accordance with the agreement of an inter-agency coordination committee composed of officials of Napocor,  National Water Resources Board, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, National Irrigation Administration and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.