Napocor is having the last laugh

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

JUST as I suspected (and expected!), Napocor, as operator of the San Roque Dam, is not even getting a slap on the wrist from both the provincial board and the Dagupan City Council for its responsibility in the October flood.

All that the Napocor spokesmen did was to insist that it was nature not human error that submerged the province, and voila – they danced away from the session rooms to the comfort of their well-appointed offices. Adding salt to injury, the Napocor officials even refused to admit that its decision to release the unprecedented high volume of water from the dam aggravated the situation for the province. They even had the gall to state that Napocor was standing by the acts of its operators that aggravated the flood.

And to all that, not a single resolution was passed by either sanggunian condemning at the very least the irresponsibility of the Napocor officials that led to the devastation in eastern and central Pangasinan, or to make Napocor accountable for the irrefutable destruction caused by the dam notwithstanding its claim.

Were our legislators simply gullible by nature that they were prepared to accept Napocor’s assertions at anytime or were they simply afraid to be perceived as ignorant when confronted by technical mambo-jambo about the weather, science of water and the operations of a modern dam that they were unwilling to contest the technical claims of Napocor’s engineers?

Blame climate change, not Napocor, they insist. And our legislators said -“Ah ok!”

What a disgrace.

* * * * *

The provincial board members and the Dagupan councilors were clearly beaten in their own game and in their own respective turfs. All the deadly fangs they showed at the onset easily melted away after the engineers belted a song and dance number about nature and the weather.

What the legislators should have done was to prepare themselves for an onslaught from Napocor via a storm of technical data that they never knew existed. They already had the advantage of being duly alerted by Napocor’s earlier assertions before the Senate and the House. Worse, they had already been personally served Napocor’s usual line of reasoning from the latter’s appearances in a past session on the same issue – the role the dam played for the flooding in many parts of the province.

A rule in the art of war is to arm yourself with a mind of the enemy.  Alas, they were too lazy to read and understand technical data from various sources. At the very least, they should have tapped an expert with credible and impressive references as a consultant to help them argue their case about irresponsible dam operations.  They did neither.

So, we’re all back to square one, left to the mercy of God, nature and the whims of the San Roque Dam operators.

* * * * *

The resolution of the Dagupan City council asking President Arroyo to consider another source for power in lieu of the dam, certainly achieved its purpose – to go on record that the council talked about the devastation and sought solution from Malacañang. Period.

Will it prompt action? Sure, the Palace clerk will dutifully file it and an assistant in the archive section will send out a pro-forma acknowledgment letter on stationery with the seal of the President on it.

Will Napocor rush to the Palace to argue and defend its position? Ho-hum. Next question, please.

But it’s not too late for the city council and the provincial board to state their sense of indignation over the wide swath of destruction in the province, laying the blame partly on the doors of Napocor, condemning the incompetence of the accountable officials.

Then, file the criminal and civil cases before the yearends. That should make Napocor more conscientious as an agency to serve our people, and not equate lives with mere statistics and technical requirements.

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