Bulacan Gov. Daniel R. Fernando reiterated on Friday, Oct.7, his demand to the contractors of the P1-billion Bustos Dam rehabilitation project to not only repair the six damaged rubber gates at Bay 5 but replace all of them with brand new and superior materials.
“Dapat lamang palitan ang lahat ng rubber gate sapagkat hindi nasunod ang specification ayon sa napagkasunduang materyales tulad ng nakasaad sa kontrata ng National Irrigation Administration (NIA). Bakit naman po mababang kalidad ng mga materyales ang ginamit sa rehabilitasyon ng Bustos Dam sa kabila ng malaking pondong inilaan dito? (All rubber gates should be replaced because the agreed specifications of the materials stated in the contact of NIA have not been followed. Why substandard materials were used in Bustos rehabilitation despite the big fund allotted for this?)," Fernando said.
He further revealed that when the rubber bladders failed the qualifications prescribed by the third-party testing of an Australian company, it further proved that the materials used were indeed substandard and inadequate.
Fernando tagged the dam situation “as an accident waiting to happen”.
The governor said the current condition of Bustos Dam is comparable to the wall that collapsed and killed five Bulacan rescuers in San Miguel at the height of super typhoon “Karding”.
“They (rescuers) drowned when a wall collapsed and unleashed a heavy volume of water,” he noted.
“Gusto kong makatiyak na ang Bustos Dam at ang lahat na ating dam sa lalawigan ay nakatutugon sa mahigpit na pamantayan ng kaligtasan, (I would like to ensure that Bustos Dam and all dams in the province meet the strict safety quality standards)," Fernando added.