Tribesmen rally vs dam

BAGUIO — At least 10,000 Ibaloi, Kalanguya and Kankanaey tribesmen living along the Agno River vow to fight the $1.2-billion San Roque Multipurpose Dam Project, the second biggest dam in Asia.

This, even as builder-consortium San Roque Power Corporation says the dam construction is almost done and claims that the project will be complete by 2003.

Mary Carling, a Kankanaey and spokesman for the Movement Against San Roque Dam and Other Large Dams, said the dam poses a threat to the survival of many indigenous tribesmen. She noted that the long-term environmental, social and economic costs of the dam to the entire nation is far greater than the government’s financial gains from it. — Artemio Dumlao