Calumpang Dam Totally Destroyed
The Calumpang River Dam which is the main structure of the Santa Cruz-Mabacan River Irrigation System was totally destroyed last September 25, 2006 at the height of Typhoon Milenyo’s fury. The 50 year old dam collapsed because of the unabated river sand quarrying downstream. According to this report, the government will spend 160 million pesos of taxpayer’s money to construct a new dam upstream. It will take the government two years to build a new dam. In the meantime, the rice farmers of Pila will have to install temporary shallow wells to irrigate their rice fields.