Tuesday, November 06, 2007 Speak-out: Megadike is not totally completed
THIS is in reaction to Sun.Star news story on November 2 entitled Mushrooming communities inside Mega Dike not safe: Phivolcs.
Phivolcs is right in warning concerned local government officials about that (situation) and since they cannot apparently stop constituents from building new homes inside the dike, they must take appropriate program wherein the affected people can be readily evacuated just in case.
This could be a gargantuan task since all the barangays (except for two) of Bacolor, including Poblacion, are inside the Mega Dike. But this is only a temporary solution and this is not the ultimate solution. No wonder even after 16 years, Phivolcs is not issuing certification declaring Bacolor as a lahar-free municipality.
The analyses of independent experts, including the Pinatubo victims organization that I led, the Ugnayan ng Mamamayan para sa Tunay na Resettlement at Rehabilitasyon Central Luzon or UGNAYAN-CL, has been once again proven right with this latest revelations by Phivolcs. That although the Mega Dike was conceived to be a catch basin for lahar and conduit for floodwater, the construction of it did not meet these goals because:
1) The dike is not totally completed as conceived and programmed. Based on its original plan, the dike should have a series of horizontal spillways ala-ladder style from its upper slopes in Porac to its lower slopes in Bacolor. The purpose of the multi-layer-spillways is to catch lahar beginning at its upper spillway. Once the first spillway is filled up, the second spillway will catch the next episode of lahar -- then the third, the fourth and so forth. In this process, only floodwaters will pass through the spillways. This process would prevent river siltation in the lower areas of Pampanga. Eventually as envisioned, the whole dike will be filled with sand up to the GSO highway making Porac and Bacolor sand-rich municipalities. But the government was able to construct only one spillway! Once again the proverbial phrase, “Pwede na rin yan” was then heard from government officials. On top of this, the filler materials used in the east and west dikes as well as in the spillway were only porous lahar materials instead of mountain soil even if these were boasted to have been compacted 100 percent.
2) The dike’s construction was attended with alleged anomalies such as the use of substandard construction materials and the non-compliance to the letter of the specifications of the plan. This was exposed when the spillway broke after one year where the giant pipes used were found out to be jointed concrete cylindrical culverts only instead of the metallic cylindrical pipes as specified in the plan. This happened when seepages began making the filler to spill out, making the concrete culverts to snap, blocking the flow of water, overfilling the dikes with water almost to its brims, then the overloading and then the sudden breach. Do you know that there is no more spillway or catch basin to speak of today because the breached portion of the spillway was never restored to its original shape but instead redesigned to make it totally opened?
Ironically and questionably, the case filed with the Ombudsman/Sandiganbayan against the officials responsible for all of these is gathering dusts and spider webs, hence genuine corrective actions on the Mega Dike are not being made up to now.
Furthermore, the irregular and unsystematic quarrying inside the Mega Dike will surely aggravate the flow of lahar and floodwaters that may run into zigzag manner resulting in eating up the sides of the Dike that will turn the event into disaster.
I just hope that through your newspaper this letter will enlighten our people and touch the hearts of concerned national and local government officials in order for them to expedite the case filed, expose and punish the culprits, and make necessary corrective actions on the Mega Dike before it’s too late.
