The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) will revisit its Operation Listo, a disaster preparedness manual for local government units (LGUs), to adapt to the challenges, with the crafting of a dam management protocol as among the focus.

“We are just waiting for guidance from the central office, but we will request for convening of all concerned local chief executives to develop a standard protocol for dam management,” DILG Western Visayas regional director Juan Jovian Ingeniero said.

Ingeniero announced the instructions during the fourth quarter full council meeting of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), where the DILG, sitting as vice-chair of the committee on preparedness, presented updates and preparations for the La Niña phenomenon.

In a report, Local Government Operations Officer II Daniel Jade Jardiolin said that as early as August 7, a memorandum was issued for all local government units (LGU)  to conduct an inventory of dams as part of the preparedness measures for the impending La Niña.

“This inventory is to streamline the process and ensure reliable data across all LGUs. The dams that were inventoried were mostly operated by the LGUs and not the NIA [National Irrigation Administration],” he said.

LGUs were requested to provide data to include, among others, the status of operations, the operator, the type of dam, normal operational water level, LGUs most likely affected downstream, possible affected barangays, and the number of families and individuals most likely to be affected in the event of a disaster, Jardiolin said.

Based on the inventory, Aklan province has 17 dams with 25 barangays likely to be affected downstream; Antique province has 18 and 38 possible affected barangays.

Capiz province, on the other hand, has 13 dams and 54 possibly affected villages; one dam in Guimaras province with no barangay likely to be affected; Iloilo province has 10 dams and 65 barangays; and Negros Occidental province has 14 dams, but there is no data of barangays that will be affected.

Civil Defense director and RDRRMC chair Raul Fernandez added that NIA should inform LGUs of the status of the dams, especially those downstream, to make necessary measures, like preemptive evacuation.

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration weather specialist Engineer Ferdinand Rubin, Jr. said there is a short-lived La Niña, with a 74 percent chance of developing from November to January, and may likely persist in the first quarter of 2025.

“We are not yet on the onset of La Niña, but La Niña conditions are already prevailing in the tropical Pacific,” he said. (PNA)