by Zeus Legaspi
(This article is the last of two parts. Read part one here.)
A missionary and rights volunteer who helps the Dumagat-Remontado people of Quezon narrated the plight of the indigenous people amid the construction of the controversial Kaliwa Dam.
In November 2009, Fr. Pedro Montallana, or Fr. Pete to those dear to him, walked with the Dumagat-Remontados from their mountain village in General Nakar, Quezon to Mendiola in Manila.
It was a strenuous 148-kilometer march under the scorching heat of the sun. The Dumagats marched on foot (some wore rubber slippers) and in their loincloths, withstanding the burning asphalt under their feet. Their journey lasted nine days.
Upon reaching Manila, the indigenous group and the volunteers who walked with them trooped to the presidential palace in Malacañang before camping at the Quezon City Memorial Circle in front of the environment department. They appeared in Congress where they aired their dissatisfaction.
They marched in protest of the Laiban Dam – a water supply project under the auspices of former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. It was a hydropower dam that, if constructed, would occupy more than 28,000 hectares of forestland in the heart of the indigenous people’s (IP’s) ancestral domain. It was a project that involved a deal between the government and San Miguel Corporation, one of the biggest companies by revenue in the country.
Eventually, San Miguel backed out of the deal after a falling out with the Philippine government. The indigenous group considered it a win on their scorecard; the tribe emerged victorious against an industry giant. But their victory over the Laiban Dam was cut short only five years later when a new administration brandished its new plans at the cost of the indigenous group’s protected property.
In 2014, then-President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III announced in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) his administration’s plans to build a dam in the Kaliwa River area. This project is called the Kaliwa Dam and is designed to solve the looming water crisis in Metro Manila. The dam will still fall on the ancestral land of the Dumagat-Remontados. At that moment, it was made clear to the tribe that their plight is far from over.
The dam is part of the administration’s New Centennial Water Source (NCWS) Project which has been proposed way back in 2012. Kaliwa Dam is only the first dam in a series of nine along the Kaliwa River.
The IPs and other volunteers have campaigned against the project since. But with the departure of the previous administration came the next – the government of the hardline president, Rodrigo Duterte. He is intent on finishing the dam, even going so far as making it his “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program’s flagship project.
But from the original public-private partnership (PPP) between the government and a local company, Duterte shifted funding into Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). He secured a 283.2 billion US dollar (15.5 billion pesos) loan from China to fund the dam’s construction. The project was also awarded to a Chinese contractor, China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited in 2019.
“We protested so much back then, but we were not heard. They still continued the agreement,” Fr. Pete, former Executive Director of Save Sierra Madre Network Inc., said in a mix of Filipino and English.
After securing funding for the project, the government’s National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and the water concessionaire, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) started the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process as mandated by law for projects that would encroach on IP’s ancestral land.
At this point, Fr. Pete and his group formed a convention made up of different environment and rights groups called the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network (SKDM) to assist the Dumagats in their struggle for rights to their ancestral land.
The Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), ideally, protects the IP’s rights and gives them a choice in matters that may affect their communities. It is under the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997.
NCIP, the government agency tasked with protecting the rights and interests of IPs, conducted sessions on FPIC involving the Dumagat-Remontados.
The government agency grouped the IPs in General Nakar and in Rizal into six total clusters. After the discussions, five out of six clusters voted no to Kaliwa Dam.
“Even with that result, the NCIP did not give a summary that the tribesmen do not agree with the project. Instead, they had another dialogue that is not in accordance with the law in December 2019 in Real, Quezon. It was illegal because all consultations should be done within the ancestral domain. Real is not [within the ancestral domain],” the former executive director explained.
Fr. Pete also alleged that the NCIP was biased in gathering representatives who attended the dialogue.
“The Commission on Audit (COA) caught wind of those activities. They issued a statement that the dialogue was ‘illegal’, and so, its outcome was scrapped,” he continued.
In 2021, COA flagged the MWSS after it issued a notice to proceed to the dam’s Chinese contractor despite their non-compliance with environmental guidelines and failure to secure consent from the IPs.
MWSS contested this, saying that they were “never remiss in securing the environmental requirements” and, at that point in time, “has not begun work on the dam site area where the Certificate of Precondition (CP) and Special Use Agreement in Protected Areas (SAPA) is required.”
“But Duterte does not follow the law anyway. So, another meeting was held here in [General] Nakar during this pandemic. What they did was, they chose those who will attend the meeting. They (NCIP) chose people who will say yes. Those who were inclined to say no were sidelined,” Fr. Pete recalled in Filipino.
According to the priest, the NCIP does not seem to run out of ideas to accomplish the FPIC process and gather consent from the IPs so that the dam’s construction could go underway, even if those ideas may not entirely be ethical.
“They used two techniques. Their first technique exploited pandemic protocols. They put testing centers to identify whether or not the person has COVID-19 prior to attending the dialogue. But many of the IPs did not believe in these tests because of their tradition. So, many were not able to attend. Those who chose not to attend were dismissed as COVID positive,” the priest said.
“The other one is that they made the dialogues virtual. They divided the IPs into groups. Some were able to go to the actual venue while some were put in a school where they were not allowed to talk to each other due to social distancing protocols. But the IPs were not well-versed in ‘Zoom’ and technology. That dialogue was fixed because it is anti-culture for the IPs,” he continued.
The former executive director said that at present, the NCIP is yet to submit a memorandum of agreement (MOA) affirming that the IPs approve of the Kaliwa Dam Project. But Engineer Ryan Ayson, a division manager at MWSS, claims that they already have met an agreement with some Dumagat communities.
Fr. Pete also recalled that when the Dumagats had a hearing at the Senate with Senator Imee Marcos, they requested documents from the NCIP and MWSS and found that their actions were illegal.
“The construction of access roads does not have the required permits. They need the endorsement of the municipalities of Infanta, General Nakar, and Tanay. There were no written documents stating that these three municipalities endorse their activities. If they follow the law, they will not be able to build the dam yet,” the priest said.
But Engineer Ayson, in a previous interview, clarified that the MWSS is now only waiting for the endorsement of the municipality of Infanta.
Nevertheless, in response to NCIP and MWSS’ actions, the SKDN filed a case at the Infanta Regional Trial Court (RTC) stating that the Kaliwa Dam Project is illegal.
In 2019, the progressive minority bloc in the House of Representatives took to the Supreme Court to halt the China-funded Kaliwa Dam Project, citing unconstitutionality.
One provision in the contract documents about the dam states that Chinese laws will be used to resolve potential disputes that may arise concerning the project, attracting concern from civil society groups.
“As of now, there is still no progress at the Supreme Court. That’s to be expected. It’s (court) swarming with Duterte appointees,” Fr. Pete reported.
In 2022, 13 out of the 15 Supreme Court justices are appointed by Duterte.
But more than the allegedly unethical procedures being followed by the NCIP and the government’s shady deal with China, a far more sinister problem is rattling the indigenous communities.
“There are a lot of issues that could arise within the dam that appears to have not been studied thoroughly. The municipalities of Infanta, Real, and General Nakar are known to have been sitting on an earthquake fault. The dam is problematic for the citizens there because they will be prone to flooding,” the priest explained.
Further, Fr. Pete alleged that agents from the government have been bribing, and in some instances, even red-tagging the IPs to coerce them into agreeing with the Kaliwa Dam Project.
“Imagine, every community – there are 36 communities here – was forced to accept 1 million pesos in exchange for their consent to the dam’s construction,” the former executive director said.
The priest explained that the IPs are living in poverty and dangling money over them, without revealing to them how expensive their land actually is, could potentially make them agree with the construction of the dam.
“In Rizal, the IPs there are strictly against the Kaliwa Dam. But they were threatened with red-tagging. Because of fear, they no longer accepted help from the Non-Government Organizations – attorneys and other volunteers – to help them understand their rights. So, they were thrown into a dialogue that they are not much familiar with. And because they are terrified, they said yes to Kaliwa Dam,” Fr. Pete lamented.
“Leaders here have told me that they have been having difficulties lately. It’s because of the dangling of money. Money and terror, red-tagging,” he continued.
Fr. Pete believes that the incoming administration will only continue what Duterte already did. At present, it appears that the people of the Dumagat-Remontado tribe will continue to face the gargantuan task of protecting what is rightfully theirs against the titans of development.
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