A Petition to President Rodrigo Duterte to Revoke the Kaliwa Dam Project
The Kaliwa Dam Project violates legal processes and the Philippine constitution, is destructive to the environment, and is against the country’s national interest.
With the increasing demand for water supply in Metro Manila, costly options appear to seemingly solve this concern. In fact, the recent “water crisis” was used to expedite and justify the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project as the solution to such.
We stand against this short-term solution because the Kaliwa Dam Project:
● Will be built on the ancestral domain of at least 5,000 Dumagat-Remontados;
● Is being expedited by the railroading of its legal process, particularly the right of the Dumagat-Remontados to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent process under IPRA;
● Will destroy the biodiversity and habitat of 126 species in 300 hectares of the Sierra Madre and endanger 100,000 residents downstream with the risk of massive flooding;
● Will entail an unnecessary 10.37 billion-peso loan from China, further worsening our debt-ridden economy;
● Will need every Filipino, including those outside Metro Manila, to shoulder the debt;
● Faces a short lifespan of 5-6 years due to the high rate of sedimentation the dam will cause;
● Allows China to settle disputes on the project using their laws and on their territory;
● And may cause our government to surrender Philippine territory to pay off the loan.
We thus call on President Rodrigo Duterte and all government leaders to revoke the Kaliwa Dam Project. We believe that this project will not address the problem but also make conditions worse for the Philippines. Alternative water solutions that are both cheaper and more sustainable (e.g. watershed rehabilitation, repairing and improving existing dams and water distribution facilities, water conservation policies) have been offered by various experts.
We, the Filipino people, say NO to Kaliwa Dam, and YES to alternatives!
“Caring for ecosystems demands far-sightedness, since no one looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation. But the cost of the damage caused by such selfish lack of concern is much greater than the economic benefits to be obtained.”
(Laudato Si, No. 36)
