MANILA, Philippines (Updated 2:30 p.m.) — Two members of the Senate minority bloc, on Tuesday urged hearings into the severe flooding in several parts of Luzon amid the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed proposed Senate Resolution No. 571 to investigate the man-made causes of the historic flooding in Cagayan, Rizal and Marikina City and to create policy that better prepares the country for future calamities.
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"Which parts of [the flooding] are our own fault? We need to know the answers immediately before the next typhoon hits. Natural calamities are beyond our control and can be unpredictable, but there are causes to the historic devastation of Typhoon Ulysses that could have been addressed," she said partially in Filipino.
According to Hontiveros, the recent onslaught of typhoons should serve as a warning for the country to "take the consequences of exploiting nature seriously," citing some 1.7 Filipinos who have been displaced and affected.
"We need to study the gaps and fill them immediately. This can’t keep on happening. Especially now, the climate disasters in the middle of a pandemic have created unique problems never before seen in the country. It is our responsibility to take seriously the protection of nature, investigate human-made causes of flooding and drastically upgrade the country’s preparedness and response,” she said.
The senator emphasized that the exploitation of natural resources has increased the vulnerability of the country to intense typhoons. Citing experts from Masungi Georeserve, she said illegal logging and land-grabbing in the Upper Marikina Watershed and Sierra Madre despite legal protections under RA No. 7586 or the National Integrated Protected System (NIPAS) could have caused the flooding.
"The logging massively diminished the capacity of the mountain range to buffer National Capital Region (NCR) and Rizal Province from the ravage of the strong typhoons," a statement released by her office reads.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to look into the mining and logging activities in Cagayan Valley.
Magat Dam under scrutiny
Hontiveros recalled the horrific images and audio recordings Filipinos awoke to on Saturday, as posts from residents of Isabela and Cagayan trapped by the intense flooding caused by the opening of Magat Dam circulated on social media.
"The audio recordings were chilling. The cries of our countrymen and women sounded like they were abandoned in the pits of hell.T he devastation of those floods is on us,” she said.
“The floods swept away the lives and livelihood of millions without warning, which could have been avoided if the alarm was rung loudly before they opened the dam,” Hontiveros added.
The National Irrigation Authority has maintained that it had warned residents "living near low-lying areas, particularly those adjacent to and along Magat River and Cagayan River to move to higher and safer places" before water was released from the Magat Dam.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan earlier on Tuesday sought a probe into the Ulysses-induced floods specifically in Cagayan Valley.
"A series of disasters have occurred in the country in recent weeks, but one must still ask: Could this have been avoided if the opening of the flootyd gates of the Magat Dam had been properly controlled? If our countrymen have been given enough warnings to be hit by floods?" Pangilinan said in Filipino.
Citing Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon, the senator said the gates of Magat Dam were still closed three to four days before Ulysses made landfall even though the dam should have made sufficient water drawdown — a decrease in water level — two to three days prior.
Protocol exists for releasing dam water
Pangilinan, who chaired the NIA from 2014 to 2015, said there are protocols that should have been followed on dam discharge and flood warning, echoing Vice President Leni Robredo who said that while the flooding was caused by a "confluence of many factors, "there was "definitely an oversight" that contributed to it.
"There is a protocol, and not just under one agency. It should be coordinated with PAGASA and the local governments especially when it comes to early warning. Inspections or checkups at warning stations and equipment must also be conducted. Warning should also be given through texts, radio, local TV — all the ways," he said partially in Filipino.
In short, Pangilinan said, if protocols had been followed and Ulysses had been properly prepared for, the devastation in Cagayan could have been avoided.
Gov. Manuel Mamba, who called the flooding the worst experienced by Cagayan in almost half a century, last week said he intends to sue Magat Dam for damages.
Pangilinan also backed Robredo's call on affected regions to invest in “disaster-proofing” to mitigate the effects of the typhoons in their localities.
"Let's listen to scientists and experts and start intensifying our disaster preparedness and response. We should have learned with [Typhoons] Ondoy and Yolanda. We will not let this pass and we will examine carefully if there is any negligence that happened," he said in Filipino.
Ulysses was the third in a string of typhoons to hit the Philippines in as many weeks.
The House of Representatives is set to conduct its own probe into the severe flooding in Cagayan and Isabela.