MALOLOS CITY -- Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado yesterday urged the national government to take immediate action to protect the Angat Dam watershed area from massive illegal logging activities.

The governor made the call after the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society and an ABS-CBN news team conducted investigative documentation on the watershed area and other parts of the Sierra Madre mountain range recently.

Bro. Martin Franscisco, chairman of SSMES, said a group of Dumagats showed them some parts of the Angat dam watershed area  where trees were recently cut by illegal loggers believed to be protected by armed men.

The tribesmen are apprehensive that the cracks might trigger landslides that could wipe out communities in the areas, which could also compromise the structural integrity of the 44-year-old Angat Dam and nearby Ipo Dam.

Franscisco also told the governor that many parts of the Angat and Ipo dams watershed have already been severely denuded. These dams are nestled along the Marikina west valley fault line, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Siesmology, Franscisco added.

“Kinatatakutan ng marami na gumalaw na ang Marikina west valley faultline kung saan ay matatagpuan din sa loob ng Angat Dam watershed. Kung kaya sumulat ang mga katutubo kay Gob. Willy Alvarado na tulungan silang mapigil ang pagkakalbo ng kabundukang Sierra Madre at maibestigahan ang nasabing bitak sa bahagi ng bundok ‘Bantal’ sa Angat.  Ikinatatakot ng mga katutubo natuluyang gumuha at masarhan ang isang malaking bahagi ng ilog ‘Matulid’ na mayroong malaking posibilidad na makalikha ng isang pansamantalang earth-dam na mabubugnos sa panahon ng tag-ulan,” Franscisco said.

Alvarado also said that the proposed bill on the management of dams in the country be enacted into law immediately to ensure public safety and damage to infrastructures and crops during typhoon season.