Construction of roads to Kaliwa Dam continues despite incomplete permits —Imee

Senator Imee Marcos on Monday said the construction of access roads to the Kaliwa Dam site in Quezon province resumed last May amid the COVID-19 pandemic and despite insufficient government permits.

Citing information from indigenous people's community leader Marcelino Tena from Quezon, the senator said police escorts were even guarding Chinese workers of the project contractor China Energy Engineering Co. (CEEC) Ltd. in constructing such access roads.

Chairing the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, Marcos stressed that this move was contrary to the commitment of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) during a hearing last February.

The Kaliwa Dam project, a venture traversing the provinces of Rizal and Quezon, is expected to help meet the growing water demand in the National Capital Region, southern Luzon and reduce total dependence on the Angat Dam.

About 85% of the project will be funded through a Chinese loan, while the remaining 15% will be financed by the MWSS, according to MWSS administrator Emmanuel Salamat.

Further, Marcos said Tena lamented over the weekend that the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) left out 32 indigenous communities in the municipalities of General Nakar and Infanta in the distribution of translated documents relevant to the controversial dam project.

"The translation of project documents that the Dumagats had requested so long ago will lend transparency to the negotiations in acquiring their free, prior and informed consent according to law," she said in a statement, noting that the request for such was made back in August 2019.

Last January, the MWSS said the Kaliwa Dam project secured the approval of indigenous communities in Rizal and Quezon when they adopted a resolution of consent in December 2019.

"The IPs ‘Resolusyon’ also means that MWSS adhered to the FPIC (Free Prior and Informed Consent) framework and that the rights of the IPs are being respected by making sure that they understood all of the implications of the project before they give their consent," the MWSS said.

But Imee said Tena's group, Samahan ng Katutubong Agta/Dumagat-Remontado na Binabaka at Ipinagtatanggol ang Lupang Ninuno, opposes the multi-billion dam project because it is seen to submerge their ancestral domain and displace their people.

Salamat previously assured that the government will provide a proper relocation site for the communities that will be displaced by the project.

Marcos said the impasse on negotiations with tribal communities to be affected by the Kaliwa Dam project must be properly resolved by the government first as she acknowledged the need for short-term and long-term solutions to the looming water shortage problems in Metro Manila and nearby areas.

GMA News Online has reached out to the MWSS and NCIP for comment but has yet to receive a response as of posting time. —KG, GMA News