MALOLOS CITY – Months before lethal floods brought by typhoon Sendong hit Mindanao, Bulacan suffered from a series of flooding courtesy of typhoons Falcon, Pedring, Quiel and two shallow low pressure area last year exposing weaknesses in disaster mitigation.
Officials and residents said that floods brought by typhoon Pedring and Quiel was the worst to hit the province in about 40 years as it left both upland and coastal towns in the province inundated.
Heavy rains dumped by typhoon Pedring on September 27 caused the breach of dikes of the Bulo Dam in San Miguel town inundating at least 12 villages in the upland town.
Hours later, the towns of Hagonoy, Calumpit, and Paombong and parts of the City of Malolos also went underwater due to floods aggravated by the water released from Angat, Ipo and Bustos dams.
The flooding in Hagonoy and Calumpit paralyzed both towns as floodwater took at least two weeks to recede.
At the same time, potable water supply dwindled due to lack of electricity used in powering pumping stations of local water utilities.
The flooding in Bulacan exposed weaknesses in the country’s disaster mitigation and warning system that led to bickering among national and local government officials.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) and the state weather bureau claimed they issued warning, but Bulakenyos said lack of electricity in the province were not considered by both agencies, thus no warning was received.
It also exposed lack of coordination among dam operators whose water released spilled aggravated flooding and led Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado threatened to file a class suit against the National Power Corporation (Napocor).
The threat did not materialize as Malacañang promised assistance to Bulacan through infrastructure projects like the revival of the Pampanga Delta Project Phase II which was shelved in early 90s.
As residents of Hagonoy and Calumpit towns start picking up the pieces in rebuilding what they lost, local fishpond industry remained on their knees.
The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) conservatively estimated damaged caused by Falcon, Pedring and Quiel at least P2.7-billion.
They said that more than half of the damage was accounted in agriculture, but local fishpond operators said that government officials only counted loses in fish stocks.
The Integrated Services for the Development of Aquaculture (ISDA), an association of fishpond operators in Central Luzon, government officials should have included damages in infrastructures like fishpond dikes.
In an interview last October with ISDA Chair Lito Lacap, he said it will take eight months before the fishpond industry in the province can recover, but recent developments might take it a little longer.
In the first week of December, water elevation at the Angat Dam reached above it spilling level of 212 meters above sea level (MASL) that led to release of water for another two weeks into Angat River that drains to Manila Bay.
Fishpond operators in Hagonoy town said too much freshwater that drains to Manila Bay is not good as it prevents entry into fishponds of brackish water, a primary requirement in fishpond operations.
While heavy rains left prolong misery to local aquaculture, it also led national government officials to make their move.
In October, President Benigno Aquino III appointed Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson as water czar, at the same time he approved the conduct of feasibility study on the integrity of the 43-year old Angat Dam which is sitting on the West Marikina Valley Faultline based on the study of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In Congress, Rep. Marivic Alvarado of the first district of Bulacan filed a bill for the establishment of a National Dam Safety Program, after delivering a privileged speech last November 23.
In the same speech, Rep. Alvarado called for the establishment of a single government agency that will set standard and will regulate operations of aging dams in the country.
In a related interview with Engineer Roderick Dela Cruz, a Bulakenyo dam safety expert based in California, he said that all 80,000 dams in the United States are governed by state and federal laws on dam safety.
Dela Cruz explained that all dam operators in the US both public and private follow the guidelines set by the state and federal dam safety office, especially when there are doubts on the integrity of the dam structure.
He said that dams in the US are not allowed to store much water in their reservoir unless they can prove that the dikes are strong enough, as guidelines demands safety and welfare of the people first along with economic impact of possible dam break.
