A research team led by Dr. Patricia Ann J. Sanchez, Professor, School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM), visited the National Power Corporation (NPC) office at Angat Watershed, last June 27, 2018, to meet with the officials of the NGC Watershed and Flood Forecasting divisions, as part of the Balik-PhD project entitled “Ridge-to-reef Disaster Risk Assessment and Climate Change Impact Assessment of Floods and Droughts in the Agricultural Sector of Angat Watershed, Philippines”,

The initiative is under the University of the Philippines Expanded Modernization Program, which initiated the Foreign-trained “Balik” PhD Recruitment Program. The project aims to perform a two-year research project on disaster risk assessment and climate change impact assessment of floods and droughts using ridge-to-reef analysis in the Philippines. 

Mr. Ador Mallari, the OIC and Section Chief of the Angat Watershed division introduced a lot of information about the project site. The section chief mentioned that their department works on the rehabilitation of the river basin and the management of the reservoir. Meanwhile the flood forecasting and water management department, as explained by Mr. Manuel S. Lampitao Jr., is helping PAGASA in terms of monitoring tropical cyclones. On the other hand, with regards to flood forecasting, rainfall and water level data are being monitored as well. 

The research group also visited the office of the National Irrigation Administration– Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System (NIA-UPRIIS) in Nueva Ecija and the Pantabangan Dam site with the endorsement of their Division Manager, Engr. Ernesto D. Ponce. Moreover, NIA staff, including Engr. Daryl Pascua of the Reservoir Division, presented a video about the Pantabangan Dam to the SESAM research team. 

The said Balik-PhD project will engage students and will later on be used as a learning tool as and additional experiential learning activities of the graduate students at SESAM. (Jimlea Nadezhda A. Mendoza)