AVALANCHE OF SUITS EXPECTED

ROSALES–A second civil case for damages was filed on July 27 against the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) over the big flood ostensibly caused by the huge volume of water released from the San Roque Dam in October last year.

The new suit, filed before Branch 53 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) here, was submitted by Golden AgriTech Products Incorporated, a company represented by Engr. Rosendo So, the founding chairman of Abono Partylist.

An initial case was filed before the RTC in Dagupan City by members of the Philippine Trial Lawyers of the Philippines chapter headed by Retired Justice Teodoro Regino.

So said the case will likely be only the first of a series of civil cases to be filed by businessmen and farmers in eastern Pangasinan who were gravely affected by the flood.

So’s company paid the filing fee of P274,450 for the court suit which seeks compensation of P12.9 million for agricultural supplies such as fertilizer submerged for days under eight feet deep of water, exemplary damages worth P1 million, lawyer’s fees of P150,000, and the cost of court suit.

He is confident his case will be followed by an avalanche of court suits against NPC, SRPC to be filed by various businessmen and farmers/farmer groups within two weeks of each other.

“We talked among ourselves that we are going to file individually so I made the first move,” So told newsmen.

Affected farmers who may not be able to put up the necessary filing fee for the court suit will be assisted by the Abono Partylist.

Goldon AgriTech, a distributor of fertilizer, maintains several warehouses in different towns of Pangasinan.

NEGLIGENT

The flood, which affected most parts of Pangasinan, was largely blamed on the SRPC and the NPC for suddenly releasing a big volume of water from the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam following heavy rainfall from Typhoon Pepeng.

The complaint filed by Golden AgriTech points out that NPC and SRPC, which operate the dam, were negligent and failed to implement the right protocol for a gradual release of water.

Named defendants in the second case are NPC President and Chief Executive Officer Froilan Tampinco, SRPC President and CEO Ryukichi Kawaguchi and/or Vice President for Corporate Social Responsibility Tommy Valdez, and NPC flood operations manager Alex Palada.—LM

DAGUPAN GROUP ALSO
PLANS TO FILE SUIT

MEMBERS of the Metro Dagupan City Economic Reconstruction Fund Foundation (MDCERFF), headed by Dr. Vivencio Villaflor Jr. as president and chairman of the board, are now discussing the filing of their own class suit against the National Power Corporation (NPC) and the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) for damages resulting from the big flood in October last year.

The flood was ostensibly caused by the huge volume of water released from the San Roque Dam, reputed to be the second highest dam in Asia and the highest in South East Asia at 290 meters above sea level, which is operated by the NPC and the SRPC.

Villlaflor, medical director of his family-owned Villaflor Doctors Hospital in Dagupan City, admitted that the group has yet to reach a final decision but he personally believes that going to court is a good move in order “to teach a lesson to both NPC and SRPC to think twice before releasing water from the dam”.

Villaflor cited that his hospital alone lost valuable medical equipment, notably their CT Scan facilities which cost more than P30 million, as the floodwater reached as high as nine feet in Dagupan City.

At the same time, he said that MDCERFF will ask the NPC and SRPC to procure additional modern Dopplers, an instrument that can measure the amount of rainfall at Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque dams at certain periods of time, which will allow the operators to calculate the proper time when to release water from the dam.

He said without this highly sophisticated instrument, there is no assurance that the big flood will not happen again. The Ambuklao, Binga and San Roque dams need at least nine rain Doppler instruments.–LM

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