REPORTED: SAN ROQUE DAM BROKE; GOV.
ESPINO: NOT TRUE, DAM IS INTACT
[PHOTO
AT LEFT - Pangasinan folk flee for their safety after it was reported that
the San Roque Dam has been damaged and would cause further flooding.
JONJON VICENCIO | LINGAYEN, Pangasinan ,
Philippines]
LINGAYEN, OCTOBER 11, 2009 (STAR) By Eva Visperas -Reports of the San Roque Dam here breaking up following last Friday’s widespread floods threw thousands of families into panic.
Local officials led by Gov. Amado Espino, however, assured residents the dam is still intact and the reports circulating through text messages were a hoax.
“That’s not true. We’ve been announcing that it isn’t true,” Espino told a television interview.
According to Espino, the provincial government is getting an hourly update on the situation of the dam from Tom Valdez, vice president for corporate social responsibility of San Roque Power Corp.
In an attempt to counter text messages circulating about a supposed crack in the dam, provincial information officer Butch Velasco and Ryan Ravanzo, Dagupan City information officer, launched a text brigade to inform the public about the assurances made by San Roque dam officials.
Tony Calaycay, community relations officer of the National Power Corp. for San Roque Dam operation, said that any break in the dam caused by the heavy volume of water brought about by storm “Pepeng” is “impossible to happen.”
Calaycay pointed out that Ambuklao Dam built 50 years ago withstood the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 1990.
He said the San Roque Dam was built recently by a foreign engineering firm that put up a very modern safety system designed to withstand an even stronger earthquake, among other natural factors.
Calaycay added the San Roque Dam was designed to accommodate a bigger volume of water coming from Ambuklao and Binga dams.
“The dam can contain all the contents of the two dams, it will not even reach half of it. That’s how big it is,” he added.
He said the water level at the dam reached 288.7 meters with six spillway gates opening up to discharge 1,500 cubic meters of excess water per second.
At the height of storm Pepeng last Friday, the biggest discharge was 5,361 cubic meters per second when it reached 289.1 meters, just a few notches short of the critical level of 290 meters, he said.
Rains and water discharged late Thursday night from the dam initially inundated 30 out of 46 towns along the Agno River in the province.
Circulating text messages that the San Roque Dam had broken up prompted several families to hastily leave their belongings, allowing looters to take advantage of the situation.
Espino lamented that many people ignored the government advisory to evacuate over the release of water from the dam but heeded the false text messages of the dam breaking up.
“We are really saddened by what happened,” the governor said.
While he did not directly blame officials of the San Roque Dam for the release of excess water, Espino said, “What is irresponsible there is you think you could handle things you do not know.” – With Cesar Ramirez
PALACE ASSURANCE: 'Enough funds for relief, rehabilitation efforts' By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) Updated October 11, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang clarified that the government can come up with enough funds for relief and rehabilitation operations in areas ravaged by tropical storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” and said it does not have to rely on a P10-billion supplemental budget being discussed in Congress.
“With or without the supplemental budget, the government will spend for rehabilitation using resources available or authorized under the 2009 budget,” Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said.
“Just looking at the extent of the damage, P10 billion for relief is on the conservative side and government will bankroll it,” Andaya said in a statement.
Andaya told the House committee on appropriations the other day that the government could not certify if funds for the proposed supplemental budget were available.
“The legal rule in crafting a supplemental budget is that funds for the purpose are already collected, as certified by the National Treasurer, or these can be raised through a revenue measure,” Andaya said.
“The congressmen realized that the two can’t be met in the case of the supplemental budget because first, we are running a huge deficit and second, it is late in the day to pass a tax measure,” he added.
He stressed that allocating a P10-billion supplemental budget is a “commendable congressional initiative” but not the only source of funding for calamity assistance.
He explained that in the hierarchy of resource mobilization for calamity funds, the supplemental budget would only be third or should only “serve as a reinforcement.”
The main source, he said, are funds designated for calamity relief or activities that fall within the mandate of concerned agencies as well as realigned funds under the current budget.
“The first casualty of a big disaster is the spending grid of agencies. When your neighbor’s house is on fire you don’t withhold the use of water earmarked for washing the car,” Andaya said.
He stressed that budgetary realignments would be done legally “and without making a calamity out of auditing and procurement laws.”
“The idea is speeding up the process without leaving the government shortchanged,” he said.
Andaya reiterated to the committee that unprogrammed funds in the 2009 budget could be tapped to finance the activities proposed under the P10-billion supplemental fund.
He explained that the unprogrammed fund item in the national budget can only be tapped if there are loans or grant proceeds or if revenues exceed target for the year.
“I am hopeful that aid, loans and grants will trigger the tapping of the unprogrammed fund,” Andaya said.
Historically, Andaya noted that spending for calamity relief always exceeded the calamity fund allocated.
“That’s why in 2008, the calamity fund under the annual budget was P2 billion but because of the 21 typhoons that hit the country that year, total releases reached P6 billion,” Andaya said.
In 2007, the budget allocated for the calamity fund was P1 billion but P8 billion was actually disbursed because the year saw 13 typhoons hitting the country.
He also said the requirements of the law should explain the reported depletion of the P2 billion calamity fund in this year’s budget.
He noted that under the law, 80 percent of the amount for the year is “forward-deployed” to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of National Defense and the Office of Civil Defense as a “quick-reaction fund.” – With Celso Amo