Aquino: No troops sent to water ration queues

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday denied reports that the government has deployed troops to secure pipes and queues for water rationing in parts of Luzon. In a briefing after turnover ceremonies at the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, the President said it would be the responsibility of the Philippine National Police, and not the military, to maintain order in areas where people have been scrambling for water. "No troops were deployed and if there are some issues to address law and order situation, it's more properly in the venue of the PNP," he said. The President said if there were indeed orders to field soldiers to maintain peace and order, or to help in distributing water in affected villages, he was not consulted about it. "I was not informed about this. I talked to the parties concerned as to whose decision this was and I reminded them to consult me first before [making a decision]," he said. A request has been made for the military to intervene in the situation but it was ultimately withdrawn even before he could make a decision regarding the matter, he said. Over-reacting? Aquino said he didn't see the need to tap the military just yet, saying: "You only bring out troops to supress." He admitted that some government offcials only seemed to be "over-reacting" on the water crisis issue. "Maybe they were preparing for the worse case scenario but the rains have come and hopefully we are hoping we have come over the hub of the peak of the water issue," Aquino said. Hundreds of villages in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces have been hit by water shortage — by as much as 24 hours in some areas — due to low water levels at the Angat Dam, the capital’s primary water source. Water level at the Bulacan reservoir remain at the 157-meter mark, way below the 180-meter critical level and the 210-meter normal level. On Thursday, the government began cloud seeding operations in the skies over Angat Dam to increase the reservoir’s water level. Around P3 million had been allotted for 70 flights hours for the plane that has been conducting the "seeding," the Department of Agriculture said. — RJAB Jr./LBG, GMANews.TV