Conclusion
ABOUT 100,000 souls are at risk if a strong earthquake occurs and cause the collapse of the still-to-be-completed Kaliwa Dam Project.
That is the estimate of Fr. Pete Montallana of the Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance (SSMNA), a multisectoral network of non-governmental organizations.
“The proposed Kaliwa Dam Project is simply the Laiban Dam Project ‘repackaged’ due to strong opposition,” Montallana told the BusinessMirror.
The Catholic priest said the threat of a strong earthquake is real, and it can happen any time. That will cause a disaster in case the Kaliwa Dam Project is completed and a huge volume of water is stored in that area, he added.
According to him, the SSMNA continues to coordinate with the National Economic Development Authority (Neda), which approved the project. We have presented studies of the potential impact of the project to no avail, Montallana said.
“We’ve requested [the] Neda to furnish us documents pertaining to the economic impact of the project, but we were told that it is ‘classified,’” he added. “We can’t understand how come a government project’s impact study can even become classifed or ‘confidential.’”
Questionable justification
MONTALLANA said the SSMNA has questioned the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System’s (MWSS’s) justification for its proposed dam projects.
According to Montallana, if the projects were meant to address water crisis, the government should address water shortage or deficit, which is primarily caused by
wasteful water-management practices.
Citing a study by the Freedom from Debt Coalition, Montallana said if one person needs 50 liters of water a day, then the 13 million people in Metro Manila would need 650 million liters per day (MLD).
However, he added even if one doubles that supply, 1,300 MLD is even less than a third of the 4,000 MLD that the MWSS supplies to its concessioners. Montallana said the government should aim to reduce the 2,000 MLD of nonrevenue water or unpaid water lost in leaks and other causes.
Legal requirements
THE Kaliwa Dam will be built within the National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuary, which is covered by Presidential Proclamation 1636.
While the Neda has already approved the project, Montallana claims the Kaliwa Dam Project has no environmental compliance certificate, as required by Presidential Decree (PD) 1151, PD 1586 and Section 12 of Republic Act (RA) 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act.
He also claims the MWSS has not secured a free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous people of the Dumagat tribe. The project needs to be approved by the Dumagat as required by RA 8371, or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act, according to Montallana.
Moreover, he claims the Kaliwa Dam Project also violates the right to a balanced and healthy ecology as stated under Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution and Section 14 of the Nipas Act, which requires legislation for any exploitation of energy resources in protected areas.
Montallana said there are numerous legal and moral issues they want to bring up to the MWSS, given the opportunity for a dialogue.The dialogue just never happened,
he said.
Question of wisdom
THE SSMNA questions the wisdom of constructing large dams, owing to their potential adverse impact on people and the environment, health and food security.
The SSMNA has been opposing the construction of large dams. The SSMNA includes groups based in the Quezon and Rizal provinces that have registered stiff opposition to the projects. Some of these groups are mostly composed of the indigenous Agta-Remontado and tribes in the Quezon province.
Citing various studies on large-dam construction, the SSMNA came up with a position paper opposing the projects and recommended the rehabilitation of the Angat Dam instead.
Montallana said the studies have emphasized that large dams are not economically beneficial. He cited a study at Oxford University, which gave the verdict based on over four years of comprehensive economic analysis on 245 large dams constructed between 1934 and 2007 in 65 countries, with a total cost of $353 billion (in 2010 prices).
The study concluded that “large dams suffered average cost overruns of 96 percent and that the degree of cost overruns tended to increase with the size of projects.”
The SSMNA has come up with a position paper as early as 2014, raising various issues and concerns. The paper says that, even without considering social and environmental costs, “large dams on average don’t make economic sense.”
Haribon Foundation Inc., another member of SSMNA, also argued that the project is a threat to the remaining biodiverse-rich forest ecosystem within the Kaliwa watershed, which includes 103 hectares of mossy forest and 2,479 hectares of primary forest, home to 126 animal species, 53 percent of which, or a total of 67 species, are endemic to the Philippines, such as the Philippine Brown Deer (Cervus Marianus), and 12 species can only be found in Luzon, such as the Luzon Bearded Wild Pigs (Sus philippensis).
“The project will impair the natural river system of Kaliwa River and affect its capacity to provide basic ecological services,” Haribon Foundation said. “Alteration and reduction of river flow is also expected, which will increase the risk of malaria and other water- and insect-borne diseases.”
Nobody knows
ACCORDING to the SSMNA, the proposed Kaliwa Dam Project will destroy the
ecosystems of the towns of Metro Reina, Quezon—General Nakar, Real and Infanta, like its more or less 3,000-hectare mangrove fish sanctuary and farm irrigation.
The same will happen to the ecosystem of Tanay, Rizal, and other nearby towns, threatening food security, the group added.
An SSMNA document noted that, with the loss of a total of 37,700 hectares of the country’s remaining forest cover—9,700 hectares under a 60-meter-high Kaliwa Dam and 28,000 hectares under a 113-meter-high Laiban Dam, the project “will endanger Metro Manila with flooding and air pollution, as well as intensify global warming and climate change.” The construction of large dams has often been the subject of spirited debate because of their potential adverse environmental impact against socioeconomic raison d’être.
While the Kaliwa Dam Project or the Laiban Dam will, indeed, be beneficial, opponents of the project maintain that the benefits will not outweigh the cost. In the absence of an in-depth or comprehensive impact study, nobody really knows what to expect.