Philstar.com
December 30, 2019 | 4:40pm
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has once again pushed for the contruction of the China-funded Kaliwa Dam project as a "last resort" to stabilize the water supply in Metro Manila.
The dam project in Rizal and Quezon will affect at least 56 indigenous people households and will place around 284 tribal households at risk of flooding, according to a summary from the DENR's Environment Management Bureau.
The president, however, said he would order concerned agencies to relocate and compensate the indigenous communities that will directly be impacted by the project.
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"I will order them to go ahead and we will pay the natives and we will relocate them," Duterte said in a speech in Digos City Monday.
Duterte blamed the indigenous communities for supposedly "delaying" the project that would be another water source for Metro Manila.
"Itong mga nakatira dito are, of course, they are all natives. They're trying to delay the project and we need water (for) Manila," the president said.
The president also played down the orders of the judiciary, a co-equal branch of government, against the construction of the dam.
"But for the court to issue itong mga [temporary restraining order] sabi ko nga do not make it to the point na sabihin ko ignore them. 'Wag kayo maniwala d'yan sa korte kasi after all pera-pera lang 'yan," he said.
In May, the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the implementation of the Kaliwa Dam project.
The lawmakers led by former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares claimed that the government's $211.21-million loan agreement with China for the dam project should be declared null and void.
The petitioners said the government should submit all documents pertaining to the project.
In October, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System obtained an Environment Compliance Certificate from the EMB that would allow the project to proceed to the next stage of planning.
“With the issuance of this ECC, you are expected to implement the measures presented in the environmental impact statements intended to protect and mitigate the project’s adverse impacts on community health, welfare and the environment,” EMB Director Metodio Turbella said in the document issued October 11. — Patricia Lourdes Viray
