MANILA (UCAN): Bishop Valentin Dimoc of Bontoc-Lagawe renewed calls for people to step up efforts to protect indigenous people’s lands by opposing the Kaliwa Dam project, which is posing a threat to tribal communities in Rizal and Quezon provinces, the Philippines.
The bishop’s remarks, made on Indigenous Peoples’ Sunday, followed reports that the government had finished the construction of access roads through a watershed area.
Bishop Dimoc, who also heads the bishops’ Commission on Indigenous Peoples, said the dam project threatens the integrity and way of life of the Dumagat-Remontado tribe.
“They need to be protected because their lives are being threatened not only in terms of the project’s effects on the environment but also in their lives and property,” Bishop Dimoc said.
The ancestral lands of the Dumagat-Remontado are situated where the government is building access roads leading to where the US$236 million [1.83 billion] dam—intended to provide Manila with a steady water supply—will be located.
Bishop Dimoc criticised the project for allegedly flouting construction rules.
“The Commission on Audit has flagged the Metropolitan and Sewerage System for going ahead with the project without proof of compliance with environmental requirements and submission of necessary permits,” he said.
The bishop also noted that Indigenous Peoples’ Sunday was not only about people, but also about the environment.
“It is also about where indigenous people live … Thus, if we want to protect and fight for their rights, we also need to protect and fight for their environment,” the bishop added.
‘Indigenous people, the community and the environment should not be sacrificed on the altar of development aggression that would only benefit … big business’
Bishop Bagaforo
A coalition of activist groups called the Stop Kaliwa Dam Network [SKDN] recently said all the access roads were “illegally” constructed because they were located in a protected area covered by the Indigenous People’s Act.
SKDN convenor, Father Pete Montallana, said that the construction of access roads alone had destroyed large swathes of forest and disrupted the lives of many indigenous people.
He also claimed the Kaliwa Dam is being fast-tracked for selfish gain by some corporations at the expense of the common good.
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“We remain confounded by how our government can confidently say that the Kaliwa Dam and its annexed projects are for the common good. Therefore, they will do everything to fast-track the project,” he said.
In the middle of this year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines welcomed a June 9 decision by the country’s House of Representatives’ Committee On Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples, to halt construction of the Kaliwa Dam.
The legislators approved a resolution calling on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and other agencies to cease activities inside the ancestral domains affected by project [Sunday Examiner, June 20].
Caritas Philippines chief, Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo, likewise said the common good must be prioritised over business interests.
“Indigenous people, the community and the environment should not be sacrificed on the altar of development aggression that would only benefit the interests of big business,” the bishop said, stressing that lawmakers and the government had a duty to protect marginalised citizens like indigenous people.
