Supreme Court urged to halt Kaliwa Dam project

The House of Representatives' Makabayan bloc and a senatorial candidate on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the Kaliwa Dam project between the Philippine government and a Chinese bank.

In a petition for prohibition, the lawmakers and senatorial candidate Neri Colmenares urged the justices to issue a temporary restraining order on what they said was an unconstitutional loan agreement between Manila and the Export-Import Bank of China.

The same group earlier filed a similar petition objecting to the Chico River Irrigation Project. The Court has ordered the government to comment on the allegations.

In the new filing, the petitioners alleged the deal "collateralizes" vital properties of the government and of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, "which could include patrimonial properties."

"Despite the proviso ostensibly limiting the waiver of immunity, therefore, the Loan Agreement which Respondents signed lays any of our Philippine assets wide open and vulnerable to seizure by China the event of our default," the petitioners claimed.

They also said the government violated the 1987 Constitution when it agreed to the use of Chinese law and to submit to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center in case of disputes.

They likewise objected to the loan agreement financing a project that they said was awarded to a pre-selected Chinese contractor, China Energy Engineering Corp. Ltd., in supposed violation of procurement laws and the constitutional preference to qualified Filipinos.

"This is just a water source project.  Since there are many qualified Filipino contractors, some building larger projects than this and using Filipino labor, they should have been included in the bidding of the project," the petition stated.

Colmenares and the Makabayan bloc also assailed what they said was the confidentiality clause of the agreement. They also alleged the agreement has not yet been given the required approval by the Monetary Board.

Environmental impact

Citing the Haribon Foundation, the petitioners said the Kaliwa Dam's reservoir will flood ancestral domains of indigenous communities: sacred sites, burial grounds, and sources of livelihood of the Dumagat-Remontados.

The project will also affect 1,000 households in Barangay Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal, and 500 households in Pagsangahan, General Nakar, Quezon, they said.

They added that the Kaliwa Watershed is home to threatened species, such as the northern Philippine hawk-eagle, the Philippine brown deer, the Philippine warty pig, norther rufous hornbill, the Philippine eagle, and restricted-range birds of the Luzon Endemic Bird Area.

The petitioners also quoted an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as saying the MWSS has not completed the requirements for an application for an environmental compliance certificate. — RSJ, GMA News