The dam is viable
Jose Ceralde
23 Oct 2009
Re: Appropriate legislation needed
Mr. Carrera,
The country has so many lawyers that filling of lawsuits against Arroyo and Ramos is a must if they are also culpable along with the dam operators. Putting those lawyers to work is a better job program than Mr. Castagana’s welders and boat makers.
The San Roque Dam management was cited by a fact-finding team for lack of risk mitigation plan in 2003 (as reported in PhilStar). The report said SRDM did not have a risk management plan for the towns that could be flooded. Apparently legislation was not passed so they did not comply.
I also agree with you that this dam built for irrigation and power, major requirements of the country today, is still viable, minus the present water release procedures and risk aversion of SRDM management.
People must not use the failure of the operators to close the dam for their own political agenda.
The dam closure clamor sounded like the “Throw the US troops out.” But guess who came to the rescue? Two US navy ships in Lingayen Gulf with hundreds of US marines flew rescue missions all over Luzon. Let’s hear those guys now who would like to sink and swim with only handful of rubber boats, shout “Get out”!
In another area, you commented on the durability of the rubber boats. During my nine years in Clark AFB in Angeles Pampanga as flight line mechanic and manager, we maintained lifeboats for the C-130, C-141, and C-5 cargo jets. They look very much like the ones I saw the Coast Guards used during the floods as reported by ANC. In those nine years of inspecting them, we did not have any incidence of weathering or dry rot of those we had in storage. In fact all of them were ready for issue (RFI) whenever we had a demand for them after we did a thorough inspection. Mr. Castagana needs to leave the trees alone for flood control.
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