BALER, Aurora—A ranking official of the Bugkalot tribes in the tri-boundary of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Aurora has expressed alarm over the drying up of the Casecnan River which he blamed on the American operator of the $600-million build-operate-transfer component of the Casecnan Multipurpose Irrigation and Power Project.
Rocky Valderama Jr., a member of the board of directors of the Confederation of Bugkalots in Aurora, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, accused the California Energy Casecnan Water and Energy Co. Inc. (Cecweci) of diverting a huge volume of water from the Casecnan River causing it to dry up, affecting the Bugkalot families who rely on fishing for their livelihood.
“The Casecnan River has dried up. What remains is a trickle of water downstream,” Valderama said.
He blamed the sudden loss of water in the Casecnan River to Cecweci that allegedly used it, violating an agreement it entered into with the National Irrigation Administration before the dam was constructed that it would only utilize 1.6 percent of the 49 billion cubic meters of water in the river.