MANILA, Philippines — Members of the House of Representatives met on Wednesday to discuss the investigation of the release of water from Pangasinan’s San Roque Dam at the height of tropical depression “Pepeng” (Parma), which has been blamed for worsening the flooding in the province.

Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco, who presided over the meeting, called for the creation of an ad hoc committee on dam management and safety.

In a privilege speech on October 13, Cojuangco, of Pangasinan’s fifth district, said the dam’s operators released more water than the Agno River system could handle, causing “tremendous devastation” to the province.

His fellow Pangasinan representatives, Ma. Rachel Arenas of the third district and Conrado Estrella III of the sixth, and Abono party-list Representative Robert Raymund Estrella attended the meeting. 

The formal investigation of the water release is expected to start when the House resumes session on November 9.

Cojuangco said the ad hoc committee will look into the procedures and regulations governing the release of water from dams, look into the carrying capacity of the river systems downstream of San Roque Dam, make recommendations for the formulation of a protocol for the release of water from the dam, and make recommendations on the downstream river capacity to regulate the maximum allowable water release rates.

He said after the probe on the San Rooque system, the committee may also look into the condition of other dams in the country.

Cojuangco said the design of the Agno River water system allows it to absorb a maximum capacity of 4,000 cubic meters per second. The three other tributary systems in Pangasinan each has an inflow of 1,000 cubic meters per second.

“What happened during the height of the rain was that San Roque Dam released for more than 10 hours water at the level of 5,700 cubic meters per second, exceeding the capacity of the Agno River water system,” he said in his speech.

As of October 13, damage to infrastructure and crops in areas affected by Pepeng, including Pangasinan, had reached P7.1 billion.