Calamities elicit kindness;San Roque Dam revisited

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L Fianza

“For every storm, a rainbow…,” the Irishmen say, but that is not so in these highlands as the death toll continues to rise and sounds of grief break the silence every now and then.

As I walked with friends towards the landslide site at sitio Little Kibungan in Puguis, La Trinidad to take footages and pictures, La Trinidad councilor Francis Lee said something like “kasla pista Trinidad ta ado tao ngem haan ta pista natay gayam” (it is like fiesta in Trinidad because there are plenty of people, but it is not, it is a fiesta for the dead instead).

The situation in the region characterized by distressed relatives of victims, mental and physical pain, weakness and heartbreaking images drew out human compassion from all over the country and other nations. Even those who have less in life, but have gentle words for the needy, shared prayers thru e-mail.

As the news spread, a countless number of faceless and nameless souls volunteered for the rescue. I saw people who belonged to different groups distribute home-made sandwiches and fruit drinks to the volunteers. As if that was not enough, they even asked for directions to other places where they can provide the same.

Others donated fuel for the trucks and equipment loaned by private construction firms as those owned by government were only few, if not unserviceable. Many were distributing drinking water and even coffee in Styrofoam cups. Some hardware stores donated plywood for coffins.

In Baguio , musicians have scheduled a series of concerts, the proceeds of which will all be donated to calamity victims. The Filipino-Chinese community, members of the media based in the city and even lawyers have pooled their resources to solicit donations and relief goods for the victims’ relatives.

As of this writing, the latest number of casualties in Benguet was tallied at 189 of which 109 were from the municipality of La Trinidad . Out of that, 79 deaths occurred at the landslide at sitio Little Kibungan, the biggest natural disaster ever reported in the history of this town. Itogon, Tublay, Buguias and Mankayan where several landslides also occurred accounted for 80 casualties.

Eight landslides in Baguio claimed at 56 lives, while 35 bodies were retrieved from a huge landslide in Kayan, Tadian, Mountain Province . Records officers on site said many are still missing but residents in all the villages hit believe that there may be more bodies buried under the mud and debris.

The site of big and small houses split up to pieces by mudslide, improvised plywood coffins, crying women and children, and people looking for missing relatives is pitiful enough. These things affect the psyche that I could have wanted to leave earlier but interesting stories from witnesses prevented me from doing so.

At 10:30 during the stormy evening of Thursday, October 8, 2009; Jason Danglipen was awakened by a loud thud, inspected his surroundings with a flashlight, discovered mud flowing all around and witnessed the three-storey house of his neighbor tumble and disintegrate a hundred meters away in seconds.

Able hands in the neighborhood gathered quickly but could only do so much as it was completely dark and nobody expected that a huge mass of earth from the mountain above could be cut by the downpour. The following morning, 20 dead bodies were recovered from the three-storey boarding house, including seven members of a whole family huddled in one of the rooms.

Another account told of a young woman who survived the ordeal by hanging on an electric line – her clothes all stripped away by onrushing mud. Somewhere in the debris early that same morning, the lifeless body of Pico Kagawad Rex Mang-oy was retrieved.

Councilor Lee said they dropped off Rex at the site before proceeding to Barangay Buyagan where another mud slide happened. Edward Dulnuan, another close friend, vanished in that incident.

I have known Rex as a no-nonsense guy who always had ideas about improving things whether in the barangay, municipality or the country. He was aware of the problems, and solutions to these popped out, especially when we were gathered around our old friend “Alfonso.”

I wonder why I remember him now that he has left – with glass in hand he utters the words “agtitinulong tayo a” (let’s help each other), then takes his swig. Certainly, helping others is something he always wanted to do, except losing his own life. What he did was an act of bravery. Cheers to you Rex.
***
During the government campaign for the construction of the San Roque multi-purpose dam near the common boundary of Pangasinan and Benguet, residents in the upstream of Agno River in the barangays of Itogon, Benguet showed strong opposition to the project.

Their opposition was based on decades of experiences with the Ambuclao and Binga dams. The inch-by-inch water movement continued to eat up the reservoir’s walls, slowly engulfing portions of rice-producing lands located by the river banks. This natural water movement produced volumes of silt that raised the riverbed. In simple terms, the dams gave wealth but brought destruction at the same time.

Finding economic benefits for the host communities where the San Roque dam was to be physically built, the province of Pangasinan passed a resolution approving the multi-billion peso project. Their move was backed by the towns where the Agno River snaked through.

Their approval of San Roque was also based on the program’s attached project component such as the construction of the irrigation and flood control systems in the province. This was expected to increase rice production and minimize flooding as excess water would flow to the Lingayen Gulf , however for unknown reasons; the irrigation systems were not constructed.

The towns heavily affected by the flooding and non-implementation of the irrigation dikes are San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales and Bayambang.

Apart from the big volume of rainfall, they have blamed San Roque for the floods as they have been under water for more than a week. Should they not also partly blame their own actions of approving the construction of the dam and for not religiously monitoring the implementation of the irrigation canals? – marchfianza777@yahoo.com