NIA Confirms Displacement of 300 Families in PGMA Dam Project

NAGA CITY - - A RANKING OFFICIAL of the Bicol River Basin and Watershed Management Project (BRBWMP) has confirmed the relocation of some 300 families along the low-laying banks of the Sipocot River due to the expected rise of water-level, once the P 1.9 Billion, gigantic Malaguico Dam project in Sipocot, Camarines Sur is completed by 2010.

National Irrigation Administration (NIA) spokesman Ed Yu in a local press statement revealed that BRBWMP  project director and Bicol Presidential Asst. Tomasito Monzon, bared that river bank residents of barangays Malaguico, Manangle in Sipocot town; and villages of Lupi Nuevo, Lupi Viejo, San Pedro, San Isidro, and Barera all in Lupi town will be affected by the relocation.

According to Monzon, a technical working group (TWG) of the BRBWMP has made a study that the relocation of the affected residents is estimated to cost some P 500 - Million, while DPWH estimates stated that construction of the flood channels at the up-stream of the Malanguico dam would reach as much as P 5.6 - Billion .

Monzon said it would prioritize the cost of housing and land relocation of the local residents, than immediately construct the enormous coat of protection dikes.

He noted that relocation can be done in less than two years, in time with the dam's completion date, with available funds from the 2009 special fund of the Office of the President, and the National Housing Authority (NHA).

Meanwhile, other sources revealed that in August this year OIC Asst. Regional Director Luis G. Banua of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in Legazpi City, said that an RDC (regional development council) resolution has been prepared for the allocation of some P 7 - Million for NIA to undertake a topographical survey of affected villages at the up-stream of the Malaguico dam project.

Banua said the survey will actually determine the exact low-laying areas, assessment of population, and houses to be relocated.

Banua also explained that "some component of the dam-project were not really neglected, but were incomplete." He added that government agencies involved in the BRBWMP has to make an attractive package for affected residents not to resist the government relocation program.

After retired DPWH director Orlando Roces initially revealed the dam's missing component in March this year, newly installed DPWH Bicol director Danilo Manalang said they will undertake the needed engineering plans for the flood control component of the dam and will cooperate with the BRBWMP.

Earlier, Roces warned that the dam's P 1.9 - Billion cost covering canals and service facilities did not include the protection dikes and flood channels.

He said that the initial inspection of two engineers from the Bureau of Design of the DPWH Central Office disclosed that "back-water-effect" of the dam will reach as far as the PNR railways at Barangay Poblacion, San Rafael in Lupi Town, in the occurrence of typhoons or flash-floods.

The Malaguico Dam project which was won in a bid by the A.M. Oreta Construction firm and which began last July, is a pump-priming project of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and his son First District Congressman Dato Arroyo. It was part of a promise to some 3,000 farmer residents in Libmanan and Cabusao, Camarines Sur for the irrigation of some 4,000 has. of ricelands in these granary towns. (SONNY SALES)