Bulacan Vice Gov. Willy Sy-Alvarado on Monday called for the immediate rehabilitation of Angat Dam following the confirmation by Phivolcs director Renato Solidum that a fracture runs across the reservoir.

This fracture is apparently part of the West Valley Fault that stretches from the Sierra Madre down to Rodriguez, Rizal and then on to Angat. The East Valley Fault, on the other hand slices through Marikina and worms through segments of Quezon City, Pasig, and Mandaluyong; and down through Muntinlupa and up to Tagaytay.

Speaking at the La Ignazia Forum in Quezon City on Monday, Sy-Alvarado said the recent discovery of a dangerous fracture beneath the reservoir is consistent with the findings of a Norwegian expert who said the damage to be wrought by a major tremor to Angat Dam is "unacceptable."

Solidum stressed that the West Valley Fault is active, meaning that it has had seismic activity in the last 10,000 years, and cautioned people to be prepared even if he says that the possibility of a major quake in the short term is not high.

Sy-Alvarado complained that the releases of water from both the Angat and Ipo Dams caused flooding in nearly half of Bulacan and he blamed the denudation of 50 percent of Ipo Dam’s watershed and 51,000 hectares of the forest cover around Angat Dam as the culprit for the destruction wrought by tropical storm Ondoy last month.

He noted that in 1987, landslides occurred in Angat and this prompted a study by a team from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for 17 months but this did not prompt the National Power Corp. (Napocor) to repair the damage.

Sy-Alvarado said Bulacan has not been earning as it should from the operations of the dam even as the Local Government Code (LGC) allows local government units (LGUs) to secure one percent of the proceeds, or P100 million annually.

Apart from this, he complained that only 17 towns in Bulacan and four in Pampanga benefit from the irrigation water from Angat. The dam actually provides water for Ipo Dam for distribution to the water districts in Obando, Meycauayan and nearby towns. Bulk of the water in Angat is distributed to La Mesa Dam in Quezon City for residents of Metro Manila.

He said he is opposed to the privatization of Angat Dam but warned government must open Laiban Dam or other dams to relieve Angat, rehabilitate it and possibly extend its life.

Sy-Alvarado noted that the delay in the construction of new dams would exert pressure on Angat and on all Bulacan residents who had not been getting additional compensation for the resource that is stored in the province.

He complained the water rights of Bulacan have not been utilized adequately and it pays more for the water that is brought from Angat for provincial residents.

The Bulacan vice governor warned that his provincemates want government to work triple time to restore the watersheds of the dams and ensure that they can store water. If not, they will be compelled to take over the facilities to satisfy their demand for water.