THE Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance Inc. (SSMNA) is reiterating its appeal to the Duterte administration for transparency in the conduct of large dam projects, particularly the Kaliwa dam, which recently got a P10-billion financing support through office development assistance (ODA) from China.
Fr. Pete Montallana, chairman of the SSMNA and coordinator of the Indigenous People’s Apostolate of the Diocese of Infanta, told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview the project endangers the lives of communities, particularly in General Nakar, Quezon.
“The proposed Kaliwa Dam project is simply the Laiban Dam project ‘repackaged’ due to strong opposition to the said project,” Montallana said.
The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) is now gearing to construct first the Kaliwa dam and later the Laiban dam to deliver 2,400 megaliters per day (MLD) of water.
MWSS Administrator Rey Velasco told the BusinessMirror the project aims to ensure water security—particularly for Metro Manila’s more than 12 million residents—in case of a strong earthquake that will cause the collapse of the Angat dam, the primary water source which supplies 95 percent of Metro Manila’s water requirement.
He said the project was met with strong opposition from the Dumagats, who, eventually, drew support from environmentalists and the Catholic Church until it was finally shelved again by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009.
Today, Montallana said the Duterte administration, through the MWSS, is bent on implementing the project and is using the water crisis as justification.
However, Montallana added the water crisis has nothing to do with a deficit in water supply, but that of wasteful use of the precious commodity, citing a Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) study.
“If a person needs 50 liters of water per day, according to World Health Organization, then the 13 million people in Metro Manila would need 650 MLD. But even if one doubles that supply, 1,300 MLD is even less than one-third of the 4,000 MLD of water that MWSS supplies to its concessioners,” he said.
The problem is with the 2,000 MLD nonrevenue water, unpaid water lost in leaks and other causes.
Civil society organizations (CSOs) insist on the recovery of nonrevenue water, Montallana said.
For 30 years, MWSS has been proposing the damning of the Kaliwa River, which is within the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuary (Presidential Proclamation 1636), but until now, it has no Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) as required by Presidential Decree (PD) 1151, PD 1586 and Section 12 of Republic Act 7586 (Nipas Act).
The proposed project, he said, does not have the Free Prior and Informed Consent from the Dumagats as required by RA 8371 (IPRA).
The project also violates the right to a balanced and healthy ecology of Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution and Section 14 of Nipas Act requiring a law for any exploitation of energy resources in protected areas, he added.
“The MWSS is heartless to the poor Dumagats who have not been paid of their environmental fee of P20 million for the Umiray-Angat-Transbasin project. That was due 20 years ago! It is an unconscionable situation while the water concessionaires continue to earn millions,” Montallana said.
Citing the observation of Dr. Steve Godilano, an environmental scientist, Montallana added the MWSS did not consider the wealth valuation (economic benefits received now) for Upper Marikina River Basin of P18 billion per year while it is P55 billion per year for the Agos River Watershed.
While MWSS denies the danger of earthquake for the project, its plan admits the need for a higher factor of safety. What would happen when the Big One hits Manila?
Montallana said the 1880 intensity 10 earthquake in Manila destroyed the churches both in Manila and in Infanta.
“The World Commission on Dams created by World Bank in 1997 concluded that large dams showed a ‘marked tendency’ toward cost overruns; environmental impacts ‘led to irreversible loss of species and ecosystems;’ dam constructions ‘led to the impoverishment and suffering of millions,’” he said.
The same study debunked the belief that dams provide “clean” energy because these emit greenhouse gases, Montallana added.
Instead of constructing big dams, alternatives are now being considered all over the world, he said.
He added Godilano is pushing for the rehabilitation of the Pasig-Laguna River Basin, which would cost only P13 billion; and adopt the Singapore New Water which treats wastewater to become potable.
CSOs have been proposing the recovery of the nonrevenue water amounting to 2,000 MLD essentially water lost in leaks and building reservoirs to collect rainwater and conduct massive campaign to inculcate the habit for water conservation.
Montallana said the solution to the impending water crisis is stronger protection and expansion of the country’s dwindling forests, which should be made the government’s urgent priority.