GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 15 July)—Cotabato governor Emmylou Mendoza called out the National Power Corporation (Napocor) to inform local government units in the lowlands before they release water from their dams in Bukidnon.
Mendoza made the call during an interview on Monday, July 15, after the Rio Grande de Mindanao overflowed its banks and inundated farmlands in Cotabato province and outlying provinces.
The governor also urged the national government to use the Mindanao River Basin Development Plan (MRBDP) as a reference in implementing infrastructure programs and in river control projects.
The MRBDP, a product of years of study, can be a useful guide in avoiding potential problems, she said.
Local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao can consider desilting river systems in their localities to help bring back the usual course or flow of water in rivers, streams and creeks, Mendoza added.
The sudden surge of water level came over the weekend, even as continuous heavy rains brought about by southwest monsoon pounded many parts of Mindanao since Friday, July 12.
Mendoza said the sudden flood in Cotabato has so far displaced more than 13,500 families. Most of these affected families are in Pikit and Kabacan towns, which are directly on the receiving end of Rio Grande flow from nearby Bukidnon.
Also affected by floods were the towns of Mlang, Matalam, Pigcawayan, Libungan, all considered as low-lying areas in the province.
In Pikit town, where most areas were submerged in floodwaters, the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Office reported that thousands of families from 14 barangays in the town have already been evacuated. Pikit is located along the vast Ligawasan Marsh.
These families come from barangays Balabak with1,235 , Tinutulan 1,055, Balatican 407, Inug-ug 1,723, Talitay 995, Bulod 107, Kolabog 825, Silik 457, Ginatilan 567, Ladtingan 428, Punol 1,603, Paidu Pulangi 1,723 , Kalawag 450, and Katalikanan with 1, 094 families.
The Pulangi River in the mountains of Bukidnon, where Napocor maintains dams to run a series of hydro-electric power plants, is a tributary of the Rio Grande, one of Mindanao’s largest rivers.
“When it rains up there and the Pulangi water level rises, they release water from the dams and this happens,” the governor told local newsmen.
She noted that Rio Grande overflows and triggers flooding even when there is no rain in Cotabato province, apparently to explain that the water came from the hydro-power dams in Bukidnon.
On Saturday evening, the remains of a female Bukidnon resident was found in a flooded cornfield in Kabacan town.
The dead body was identified as that of Evelyn Candido, who along with her 16-year-old daughter Rochel, were swept by raging flood waters while crossing a river in Maramag town, Bukidnon on Friday evening.
Mendoza said they are still assessing the damages, mainly in agriculture. “We are still in the consolidating process,” she said, adding that there were no reported damage in infrastructure facilities so far.
Despite the potentially heavy losses, the governor said they are not keen on declaring a state of calamity in the province yet.
“Declaring a state of calamity will force us to spend and sap our resources. We are still in the middle of the year and the forecast given to us, rains will come until December,” she said. (Rommel G. Rebollido / MindaNews)
