Phivolcs: Jalaur project not within faultline

The P11.2 billion Jalaur River Multi-purpose Project (JRMP) of the national government in Calinog, Iloilo is safe and not within the faultline in Panay Island.

This was clarified by Jeffrey Somintac Perez, supervising science research specialist and geologist of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) under the Department of Science and Technology.

Perez said a certification of safety was awarded to the JRMP last year as requested by Senator Franklin M. Drilon to determine the safety of the mega dam project that will install three dam sites for irrigation of additional 85,000 hectares of rice lands, 35,000 cubic meters of bulk water supply every day and 8 megawatts of electric power for Iloilo and the rest of Panay provinces.

A total of 21 municipalities in the province of Iloilo are expected to benefit from the project in a move to establish once more, Iloilo as the top rice producing area and food basket of the country.

In Iloilo City on October 16 for the opening of a three-day Science and Technology Fair for the Visayan Cluster, Perez disclosed that JRMP is located more than 12 kilometers east of the West Panay faultline.

“The project is definitely safe from ground rupture. What is considered as not safe and vulnerable to earthquakes is a mega project built within five kilometers from the faultline,” Perez said.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna partylist congressman Neri Colmenares disclose last week that he will pursue a congressional inquiry on the JRMP project in Iloilo due to reports of unsafe site and vulnerable to earthquakes by being near the faultline.

Colmenares said the people have the right to know the exact situation of the project including the claims of indigenous people living in the highland area affected by the mega project. By Lydia Pendon