SANTA CRUZ, Laguna—Sen. Loren Legarda on Wednesday  met local leaders and government officials here to find solutions to the rice fields being flooded during typhoons.

Rice fields surrounding Laguna de Bay, the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines and the third-biggest in Southeast Asia, have been flooded for more than a month now since typhoon Ondoy lashed Northern and Central Luzon.

Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Oversight Committee on Climate Change, held a Senate hearing in a flooded rice field in sitio Butuanan, Santa Cruz, Laguna. More than a dozen mayors of lakeshore towns, as well as other local and national government officials, attended the hearing.

The aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy late September caused the waters of the Laguna de Bay to overflow by 10.4 meters, leaving 28 towns and cities submerged in floodwaters, and damaging thousands of hectares of ricecrops.

Typhoon Ondoy poured some 3,300 cubic meters of rainwater on Marikina and Antipolo which should have flowed through the Napindan Channel to the Pasig River and thence to Manila Bay at the rate of 150 cubic meters per second, Loren learned.

The fisherfork group Pamalakaya blamed the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) for its refusal to open up the Napindan Channel. They claimed that LLDA general manager Edgardo Manda refused to open the Napindan Channel that should have flushed excess water from the lake.

Manda denied responsibility for the operation of the Napindan Channel and pointed to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) as the agency responsible.

Loren, however, noted that a study released by the Asian Development Bank in 2004 stated that the Napindan Channel was initially operated by the Department of Public Works and Highways, but its operation and control was turned over to the MMDA in 2003.

The senator proposed that it must be made clear which government agency has jurisdiction over the operation of the Napindan Channel.

Loren also distributed relief goods to poor families in barangay Gatid, Santa Cruz, Laguna, on the way to the public hearing. She wasassisted by Rep. San Luis of the Fourth District of Laguna, and by Mayor Ariel Magcalas of Santa Cruz, Laguna.

After the hearing ended in the afternoon, Loren visited an evacuation site in Pedro Guevarra Memorial National High School, Santa Cruz, where she also distributed relief goods to 200 families.