DAGUPAN CITY – Officials of Pangasinan are planning to file a class suit against the management of the San Roque Dam whom they blamed for the massive flooding that devastated the province for releasing water from the dam at the height of typhoon “Pepeng.”

Governor Amado Espino and former House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr. said in an interview with local media that San Roque Dam, located in San Manuel town, caused a lot of damage with the devastation of national and provincial roads and causing the death of at least 22 persons.

Many have also lost their homes and livelihood.

The former Speaker said officials should organize intelligent and calibrated releases of water from the giant dams or face prosecution.

He said the massive and simultaneous release of dam waters from San Roque, together with waters from Ambuklao and Binga Dams and the sustained rains brought by typhoon “Pepeng” combined to create huge torrents in the Agno, Bued and Sinocalan River, resulting in the Pangasinan Deluge.

De Venecia proposed a meeting with current House Speaker Prospero Nograles, the Northern Luzon and Cordillera congressmen, governors and mayors to draft reform provisions in the national budget before its approval to tackle anti-climate targets and set up anti-flood and graft-free rehabilitation funds to be jointly distributed by the government and religious and civil society organizations.

However, a government research specialist said many areas in Northern Luzon would still have submerged in deep floods with or without the release of the excess water from San Roque Dam.

Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Department of Science and Technology said typhoon Pepeng brought too much rain that led to the flooding of many low-lying communities.

Rainfall within 24 hours reached 675 millimeters in Northern Luzon, more than three times the usual heavy rainfall of 180 millimeters recorded by weather specialists.

Yumul admitted that water releases in San Roque dam also contributed to the severity of the floods during the onslaught of Pepeng in the north. He could not yet provide how much of the spilled water aggravated the rising floodwaters.

Other factors that amplified the floods in Northern Luzon, particularly in low lying areas, include excess water from the saturated watersheds and damage to some of the dikes, according to Yumul.

"With or without the opening of the dam, there will still be flooding in Luzon," he said in a news conference in Malacanang.

Yumul said administrators of San Roque Dam gave early warning to the nearby communities about the water spillage four hours before the actual release.

"There was a preemptive opening of the dam prior to the assault of typhoon Pepeng. Despite this, too much rainfall still led to high floodwaters," he said.

He said the government has already checked the stability of San Roque Dam amid concerns of cracks in the facility after it was battered by Pepeng’s heavy rains last week.

Yumul assured that San Roque Dam and the rest of the water reservoirs across the country can take the stress of heavy rainfall as it is within the spilling level. Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero of the Nationalist People’s Coalition said his party is supporting the move to file a class suit against the operators of dams across Luzon, particularly the San Roque Dam.

The decision to release waters from the San Roque Dam amounting to some 19 billion liters of water per hour helped increase the flood levels in Pangasinan, he said. The waters from the dam increased further the waters brought by the typhoon.

In a briefing for Senate reporters, Escudero said he has talked to some local officials in central and eastern Pangasinan hard hit by floods on the planned filing of suits against the dam operator.

He said the decision to release the dam waters when they approached the critical 290- meter (above the sea elevation) level caused extensive damage and claimed lives ‘’when they could have released it earlier’’ at the time it was still on the 220-meter to 230-meter level, he said.

He said the NPC is trying to get documents needed to file a tort (civil charge) against the San Roque dam operator, reportedly a Japanese construction firm, which was given soft government guarantees. Construction of the dam went full blast during the Ramos administration.

Escudero said under the law, dam operators are legally liable for any negligence on their part.

If dam operators could be sued for deaths or injuries incurred by their disregard for safety, they could, in extreme cases, “be criminally liable and any complaint may also add reckless imprudence to the class action suit,’’ he said.

Escudero pointed out that the private operator of San Roque Dam, two days before Pepeng made landfall, was telling the public that they could absorb all the rain the typhoon could bring.

The maximum capacity of the dikes in the area was 4,000 cubic meters per second only but at the height of the typhoon, 5,361 cubic meters per second or 5.361 million cubic liters of water were released into towns and villages. This is equivalent to 380 million liters of water per minute or 19 billion liters of water per hour.

“In the span of 10 hours, 190 billion liters of water were released by the San Roque Dam. This is the exact reason why dikes along the Agno River gave way and overflowed. What is ironic and more annoying about this is the head of the Agno River Flood Control project was also begging to be rescued after being trapped in the roof of his office,’’ he said.

Aside from San Roque, Escudero also wants to review the procedures of Binga, Pantabangan and Angat dams.