Former President Fidel V. Ramos cited faulty flood control dikes and the abolition of the Agno River Basin Development Commission (ARBDC) in 2004 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as among the major causes of the massive flooding that affected 70 percent of Pangasinan towns and cities in the wake of typhoon Pepeng.

Ramos, under whose administration the San Roque Multi-Purpose Dam Project (SRMDP) in San Manuel, Pangasinan started but only completed in November 2002 during President Estrada’s term, admonished Pangasinan officials and other leaders not to just look at the culpability of SMRDP and National Power Corporation on the release of water from said dam but on the other causes of the flooding.

“Unfortunately, since seven years ago, SRMDP has not been supported by the installation downstream of reinforced dikes for flood control of huge volumes of impounded rainwater, for irrigation of arable lands in four Pangasinan districts and one Tarlac district, hundreds of barangay fishfarms, and freshwater for two million residents. Insufficient peso budgetary allocations throttled committed ODA assistance resulting in non-existing, sub-standard or much delayed completion of dikes/ floodgates not in accordance with projections for SRMDP,” said Ramos in a press statement.

To harness the precious conserved freshwater in Northern Luzon, Ramos created the Agno River Basin Development Commission (ARBDC) through Executive Order 442 on September 23, 1997 as a long-term, planning, implementation and supervisory agency.