CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda on Wednesday sent a 35-man team that will look into the possible causes of the “unusual” low volume of water along creeks on top of the mountains in Porac and at the town’s two rivers.
The team was also tasked to record on video the landslides and erosions in the area near Mt. Pinatubo caused by torrential rains battered Central Luzon last week.
Pineda’s team of Philippine Army and Pampanga police personnel left Villa Maria, Porac at about 7 a.m Wednesday.
The governor said they will walk uphill for at least seven hours before reaching Miyamit Falls, which is near the southeast portion of Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales province.
Included in the team are Porac municipal workers organized by Mayor Condralito “Carling” De La Cruz to take photos and videos which will be assessed late Wednesday night or Thursday morning by Pineda, engineers, geologists and the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office.
Pineda was alarmed by the reports of Sapang Uwak, Porac Barangay Captain Solis Palo during an emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon in Guagua town that a “mini-dam” had formed in the village’s Sitio Bani after a landslide occurred.
The Aeta-dominated Sapang Uwak and Villa Maria barangays share borders and are among the villages perched on the hilly portion of Pampanga’s biggest town in terms of land area.
Pineda on Tuesday night ordered the evacuation of women and children living along the banks of the Porac River and Porac-Gumain River as a preemptive measure as risks of flashfloods and landslides rose after days of heavy rain.
LESSONS LEARNED
Roy Imperial, consultant-adviser of the governor who was tasked to assess the video taken on board a Philippine Army Huey helicopter on Tuesday, said Pineda had ordered the evacuation based on the August 14 flashfloods in Masinloc, Zambales.
He added that the more than 350 families living near or at the slopes of a mountain area in Barangays San Lorenzo, Sta. Rita, Baloganon, Sto. Rosario, Tauac and Callat had been evacuated to avoid threats of more possible flash floods spawned by rains.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry and the governor learned a lot from the tragedies caused by flashfloods and landslides in the country,” said Imperial.
Imperial cited the devastating flashfloods and landslides in Ormoc City in 1991; St. Bernard, Southern Leyte in 2006; San Juan Bano, Arayat, Pampanga in 2009; and in Iligan and Cagayan De Oro cities in 2011.
Imperial and other Capitol officials visited the two Mindanao cities on orders of the first-term governor to deliver aid and support after the disaster triggered by “Typhoon Sendong” killed more than 1,000 people.
“More importantly, the EMB’s briefing made the governor pro-active than wait for possible disasters,” said Imperial, who was joined by Second District Board Member Fritzie David-Dizon, former Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda and, Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab in monitoring the evacuation and reports on the first actual inspection of the “mini-dam” on Tuesday by Villa Maria residents led by village councilor Arnold Reyes.
Noel Lacadin, engineer of the regional EMB who made the briefing to the governor and local officials of Porac, Guagua, Sasmuan, Floridablanca, Lubao and Sta. Rita during the emergency meeting, said the “unusual” lack water on the creeks and rivers in Porac is a “sign” that reservoirs of water are developing in nearby mountain and hilly areas.
He added that the volume of water should have been bigger considering it was raining for days since last week and that low pressure areas and typhoon Helen brought in strong rains in Central and North Luzon since Monday.
AERIAL INSPECTION
Brigadier Gen. Gregorio Catapang, commander of the Philippine Army 703rd brigade based in Arayat, organized an aerial inspection on Tuesday and the team on board the helicopter took videos of the area, including the creeks in Sapang Uwak and the two Porac rivers.
Catapang said his team failed to get video footages on the upper portions of Sapang Uwak and Miyamit Falls because of the bad weather.
Catapang and the Pampanga police led by Supt. Bernard Perez deployed personnel at watch points in Sapang Uwak to warn people of possible landslides and flashfloods.
Pineda said she had ordered the second actual inspection to make a “through report and study” on the reports of local Aeta residents and barangay officials that landslides and erosions occurred allowing the creation of “mini-dams” or water reservoirs.
“This,” she added, “may cause problem to towns near the Porac rivers if the many dams in the mountains break and send rampaging water.”
Pineda stressed her order of evacuation of residents in at least four towns living along the two rivers is a “pre-emptive measure and there is no reason to panic.”
LESS CRITICAL
Porac municipal official Engr. Glenn Lansangan, who organized the first inspection of the all-Aeta team that went up on Tuesday morning, said that based on the “verbal report” of Reyes early Tuesday night after their inspection the “dam” on top of the mountain had “lesser water.”
Lansangan said Pineda’s decision to order an evacuation was “proper on Tuesday night” because “there are indeed landslides and erosions” discovered by Reyes’ team. He added that the erosions caused soils to block the creeks and tributaries in the area.
Lansagan said he had organized an 11-man team composed of Villa Maria officials that left at least two hours before Pineda’s team. They will join the other team in the inspection.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said in radio interview on Wednesday that it will send a “third team” that will join the two groups that left early Wednesday morning.
