MWSS turns over P160 million for Kaliwa Dam construction

MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System (MWSS) has remitted P160 million to the Rizal and Quezon Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) as construction disturbance fees for the construction of Kaliwa Dam.

In a ceremonial turnover yesterday, the MWSS turned over P80 million to the IPOs in Rizal and another P80 million to the IPOs in Quezon.

These will cover the disturbance fees for the duration of the construction of the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project, which is expected to be completed by end-2026, MWSS administrator Leonor Cleofas said.

These are part of government’s commitment to the affected communities in the ancestral domains under their memorandum of agreement (MOA) after securing free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) process, which took nearly eight years, she said.

The turnover was made as some 300 Dumagat-Remontado IPs march from Gen. Nakar, Quezon to Malacañang from Feb. 15-23 to show their opposition to the Kaliwa Dam Project.

In an interview after the ceremony, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) regional hearing officer and designated spokesperson for Kaliwa Dam in Region 4A Josefina Agusti said the value turned over by MWSS was determined by the IPOs themselves.

“The P80 million is the valuation of the IPs. They did not only compute the material impact but also considering their culture and tradition. They have considerations which is very unique to them,” she said.

The Rizal and Quezon IPOs have formed their respective community royalty management and development plans to use the proceeds from MWSS.

“One of the roles of NCIP is to ascertain that all benefits will be received by the IPs from MWSS. We will also guide the IPs, especially with their community royalty management and development plan. They plan out the projects they need in the community according to the ancestral domain sustainable development plan,” Agusti said.

The NCIP will also assist the IPOs NCIP in the trainings needed to uplift their technical skills on management and will also be part of the monitoring team on their spending and ensuring compliances of their rights.

Once the project is complete, the MWSS will provide annual financial assistance of P1 million per community in both provinces, or P36 million in Quezon and P10 million in Rizal, Cleofas said.

“[The P160 million] will be replaced by a financial assistance of P1 million per community recognized by the NCIP. The NCIP recognized community in Rizal is 10 and 36 in Quezon,” she said.

The MWSS official said the clear objective is to deliver the Kaliwa Dam project by end-2026.

“Including the detailed engineering design, the overall project is now 22 percent completed,” Cleofas said.