Duterte says dams need to discharge water to prevent catastrophe

November 15, 2020

President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said there was a need to release water in various dams in Luzon to prevent catastrophe.

“It’s a dam, you have to release it. Otherwise, you’ll have a catastrophe,” he said in an interview with reporters in Camarines Sur.

Duterte made the statement after some local government officials complained that they were not given warning about the opening of the dams which caused massive flooding in different areas in Luzon when Typhoon "Ulysses" struck the country this week.

Local officials from Marikina and Cagayan have threatened to sue the management of Angat and Magat Dams due to the incident.

“Every dam in this world, if it is already full, the water needs to be released otherwise it will just spillover. If (the) dam will be broken, you have a catastrophe in your hands,” Duterte said.

During the situation briefing in Tuguegarao City, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said it is not only the release of water in the dam that caused the flooding in Cagayan Region.

Cimatu said the volume of rain during Typhoon Ulysses is more than the capacity of the Cagayan River.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano, meanwhile, said he will propose that the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) be given the authority to control the opening of dams during typhoons.

"Before the calamity we should be allowed to open (the dams), especially if there is forecast of massive rains,” Ano said.

Duterte also said that the severe weather disturbances experienced in the country were due to climate change.

"The problem is whether we accept it or not, (it's) the climate change. The warm climate that boils in the Pacific Ocean, there's a lot of water vapor going upstairs and accumulating into so much rain," he said.

During his recent virtual participation at the the East Asia Summit, Duterte underscored the need for nations to address climate change.

"I was very strong in my language about the people who contribute a lot in global warming... Philippines, we only have a few factories running here," he said. Ella Dionisio/DMS