By Marilou Guieb | Correspondent
THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) has won one round in the battle over Kaliwa dam with the issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) dated October 11.
The Stop Kaliwa Dam network, however, is undaunted. In a meeting facilitated by Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance spokesman, Fr. Pete Montallana, the group’s members discussed the legal action to declare the ECC issuance not valid based on violations of the procedure and weaknesses in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), on which the project endorsement was based.
Their issues: first, the failure of the proponent to comply with the rules given under Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order (DAO) 2017-15 regarding public hearings and the procedure of providing information on the project to affected communities and stakeholders.
Destruction to flora and fauna, especially of endangered species was also cited by the network.
Third, the issue of ancestral domain rights of indigenous peoples (IPs)—Dumagats and Remontados settled in the area—who will be affected.
Environment group Haribon has flagged the loss of 19 globally threatened tree species and the threat to the Northern Rufous Hornbill, a threatened species, in the area.
Conchita Calzado, a tribal leader, lamented that despite the ECC that guarantees protection for the places sacred to them—such as the Tinipak Spring and Tinipak White Rocks diverging from the Kaliwa River, the sacred spot where healing is traditionally done—they will still be disturbed.
Calzado said the project will also impact on 56 indigenous people households and place 284 households and an additional 1041 households in Barangay Daraitan at risk of flooding with a possible dam break.
The ECC, however, requires that the proponent can only proceed with the project after acquiring all other pertinent permits from other government agencies.
The ECC, signed by EMB Director Metodio Turbella, described the project as a dam with a spillway elevated at 160 meters at the right bank of Kaliwa River and a conveyance tunnel about 28 km long.
It covers a reservoir area of 291 hectares. Its main purpose is for water security by increasing raw water supply and reduce dependence on Angat Dam.
Finally, the objectors also noted that the technical review of the EIA given by some environmental experts and scientists were not sufficiently addressed.
The opposition said the range of concerns and violations they cited should render the ECC invalid and serve as groundwork for them in an initial answer to the ECC that is required within 15 days of receipt, or November 2.
Sanlakas Secretary General, Atty. Jose Aaron Pedrosa Jr., citing provisions of DAO 2017-15, said that there was failure to comply with the requirement that an EIA Summary for the Public (ESP) review must be written in both English and Filipino.
It was written only in English on the website of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the DENR. “Considering that there were IPs at risk, the EMB and MWSS [Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System] should have complied with the language provision,” he said.
Pedrosa said the MWSS also failed to show proof of publication for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper, and residents saw only notices of public hearing the day before despite the requirement that this be posted in conspicuous places two weeks before a scheduled hearing.
He claimed the EMB conducted the public hearing without complying with its own guidelines and called for the nullification of the August 23 hearing.