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Source: gmanews.tv


The state-run National Power Corporation (Napocor) on Tuesday rejected a call by Pangasinan mayors to stop the operations of San Roque Dam over fears that it might collapse and devastate the province.

Dennis Gana, spokesman of Napocor, which owns San Roque Dam, told reporters in a press briefing in Malacañang that decommissioning the dam would be counterproductive as the benefits it provides would be go to waste.

Among the benefits that the dam provides, according to Gana, are: 1. employment related activities; 2. irrigation water for Pangasinan; 3. power generation of 400-500 megawatt "at any given time," which contributes to the Luzon Grid; and 4. its flood mitigation capability.

Located in the towns of San Manuel and San Nicolas,Pangasinan and Itogon in Benguet, the SRMP provides year-round irrigation for 70,800 hectares of farmland downstream largely in Pangasinan, but including parts of Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.

It functions as a flood control structure by trapping sediments caused by erosion and other sources as small-scale mining upstream.

"That’s the cost of your call for decommissioning. And you have to answer to the financing institution that lent us money for this project. How are we going to pay if it’s not earning? Those are the things you have to consider," Gana said.

On Monday, Pangasinan mayors met and called for the decommissioning of dam, which they earlier blamed for the massive flooding in the province at the height of typhoon “Pepeng" in northern Luzon two weeks ago.

The local officials said the dam poses great danger because it is located near a fault line and could collapse anytime because of an earthquake and wipe out the entire province.

"In the first place, I don’t know if the dam really lies near fault line. We do have a dam that is near a fault line, which is the Angat dam. The fault near it is the west valley fault but it’s not active now," Gana said, adding that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) has already said that the fault is locked and does not pose any threat to the dam structure.

Malacañang expressed misgivings about the mayors’ proposal. Like Gana, deputy presidential spokesman Lorelei Fajardo was concerned over the benefits that the country would lose from decommissioning the multipurpose dam.

"We have to look into (it) in assessing what went wrong, if there is indeed someone liable and accountable. We cannot be rash," Fajardo said.

What’s important is to assure the residents that the disaster that befell the province would not happen again, she said.

Gana said instead of pointing fingers, the agency and the local government officials should just work together to avert similar disaster in the future, especially now that another storm is threatening the country.

"We need their help in convincing people to heed the warnings … help us to convince people to go to higher ground or evacuate. They should cooperate and help us monitor water in downstream and its effects," Gana said.