MANILA, Philippines—With the flooding in Pangasinan province at the height of typhoon Pepeng (international codename: Parma) last week being blamed on the release of water from dams, two lawmakers on Thursday proposed to shelve the construction of “giant dams” in the country.

House Resolution No. 1461 authored by Butil party list Representatives Leonila Villa-Chavez and Agapito Guanlao seeks to instead use or construct small and medium-sized water impounding dams to be managed and operated by farmer, which they said are “safer and cheaper alternatives to giant dams.”

“The giant dams are a clear and present danger to lives and property during the rainy season,” they said in the resolution.

“The death, destruction and untold misery brought about by the floodwaters of tropical storm Ondoy (Ketsana) and typhoon Pepeng had been abetted by emergency water releases from the country’s giant multi-purpose dams,” said Chavez and Guanlao in the resolution.

Local officials have blamed the operators of San Roque Dam for not issuing an early warning to the residents before the opening all of the dam’s six spillway gates. The release of water from the dam caused flooding in most parts of the province.

In lieu of giant dams, there are available technologies to meet the needs for potable water, irrigation and power supply, and that the government should tap these, the resolution said.

According to the authors, dams are being shut down in California, and the Three Gorges Dam in China is being questioned on environmental, social and economic grounds.

They added the construction of dams was mostly financed by huge foreign loans and indigenous communities are commonly displaced during their construction. Dams also fail to address water problems during long dry spell.