COA flags Kaliwa Dam project over lack of environmental compliance, consent from affected communities

The Commission on Audit (COA) has questioned the Metro Manila Sewerage System (MWSS)’ issuance of notice to proceed with the P12-billion Kaliwa Dam project pending the Chinese contractor’s compliance with guidelines under conditional Environmental Compliance Certificate (EEC), failure to secure the affected indigenous peoples’s consent, among others.

In its 2019 Annual Audit report on the MWSS, state auditors said that while the MWSS has formed an Environmental Unit (EU) to ensure compliance with the conditions in Environment Impact Statement (EIS) and ECC with the primary duty of preparation and submission of the Compliance Monitoring Report to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) semi-annually, the MWSS has yet to submit report of such compliance, if ever there was such.

The conditional ECC, COA said, has 21 conditions consisting of 17 environment management and four general conditions, as well as provides sanction for non-compliance of any of the provisions of the ECC.

Likewise, the same conditional ECC provides that no activity will commence until the proponent has complied with the requirements of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, other relevant laws and issuances; and the necessary certifications fromthe National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) including the Certificate of Precondition (CP) after the Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) is obtained from the affected ICC/IP groups.

Likewise, COA said that the Certificate of Precondition attesting to the Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) is still a work-in-progress, while the Memorandum of Agreement between the concerned indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples (ICC/IP) of Quezon and Rizal provinces are under way.

“To date, there were neither documents that will show proof of compliance with the requisites stated in the conditional ECC, nor reports on the status of compliance with the documentary requirements were submitted or made available to the Audit Team,” COA said.

“Being conditional in nature, it therefore follows that the requisites stated in the ECC must be complied first before the pursuit of the project implementation. Such failure of the agency to produce proofs that it has satisfied all the requirements under the ECC renders the issuance of the NTP questionable,” state auditors added.

The project was granted to China Energy Engineering Corp. (CEEC), while the conditional ECC was granted by the MWSS to the project in October 2019. The NTP issuance followed in November 2019.

No consent

In addition, COA said that its examination of Resolusyon ng Pagpayag (RP) of the Dumagat/Remontado tribe of General Nakar, Quezon submitted by the MWSS showed deficiencies which cast doubts on the validity of the said Resolution as well as the acceptability and legitimacy of the signatures gathered due to the following reasons:

• the Resolution having no mention of tribal leaders or elders who would recognize or attest to the identity of the indigenous people member who signed the resolution;
• the Resolution not bearing any date when the purported IPs affixed their signature—an important detail since the signature must be within the date of
• assemblies held or a reasonable period thereafter and not earlier or prior to the date of the execution of the document;
• the Resolution not stating the number of pages that the document contains;

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• no attestation at the back of the document or after all the signatures and that the signatories were properly informed of the legal effects of the Resolution the IPs and ICCs of Rizal and Quezon Provinces adopting the Resolution of consent during the final consensus building last December 9 and 17, 2019 but that attached listing of signatures of the Resolution is dated December 19, 2019; and
• the Resolution not being notarized—a requirement which converts a private document into a public document and makes it admissible in evidence without further proof of its authenticity.

“Thus, we cannot determine whether these are only the contents of the Resolution or the signature sheets were only attached to the main document,” COA said.

Further, COA said that the dubious, if not questionable character of the consent of the IP members was “bolstered by the fact” during the hearing by the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities last January where several stakeholders and groups from various sectors, including the tribal groups located in the affected areas, raised concerns over the legitimacy of the leadership and representation of the indigenous peoples were disputed.

“These groups include residents who argued that they were neither consulted nor informed on the implementation of the project. The same group also claimed that they were disregarded in the dialogues conducted during the community,” COA pointed out.

As a result, the COA recommended that the MWSS require the FPIC Team to craft a valid and proper Resolusyon ng Pagpayag that complies with the requirements under the NCIP Administrative Order No. 3, series of 2012 and other pertinent laws.

MWSS response

In response to issuance of NTP pending ECC compliance, the MWSS argued that the Kaliwa Dam project is still in its Design Phase, with detailed engineering design activities still on-going and the FPIC activities are still ongoing in coordination with the NCIP.

COA, however, said that this claim is still subject to the audit team’s validation.

As to the questionable consent of IPs affected by the project, the MWSS replied that the FPIC or the Kaliwa Dam project was hampered by the protest staged by different interest groups and that the MWSS and the NCIP are already in the process of securing the CP through the conduct of two FPICs among IP communities grouped in General Nakar, Quezon and Tanay, Rizal.

Further, the MWSS reasoned that the schedule of activities for the FPIC process is not within the control of the project proponent MWSS, and that the schedules are determined by the ICCs/IPs with the concurrence of the NCIP.

The MWSS also cited that the NCIP already facilitated teleconferencing with project proponents with pending FPIC applications to map out plans, formulate position papers as basis for the issuance of guidelines/mechanics on how to proceed with FPIC-related activities taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic.

COA, however, said that these justifications are still pending validation due to belated submission of such response by the MWSS.

A week ago, presidential adviser for flagship programs and projects Vince Dizon said  the Kaliwa Dam project is one of the flagship infrastructure projects of the Duterte administration since the undertaking is crucial in providing water supply to Metro Manila. — RSJ, GMA News