BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – President Benigno Aquino III has been urged to stop the construction of the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project – Phase II (JRMP-II) in Calinog, Iloilo.
The P11.2-billion mega dam project can cause adverse effects on the environment and the indigenous peoples (IPs) in the area, said the Ecumenical Advocacy Network on the Philippines (EANP) in a letter to the President.
EANP also sent copies of the letter to National Irrigation Administration (NIA) administrator Claro Maranan, Sen. Franklin Drilon, Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and the Korea Eximbank.
Last year, the Supreme Court issued a Writ of Kalikasan against the JRMP-II.
The dam is not the only answer to improve irrigation and water supply in Iloilo, said the US-based human rights group in their letter to Aquino yesterday.
According to them, “small-scale water impoundment projects” will do.
EANP is a network of individuals, organizations, and groups in the US advocating restrictions to military aid appropriations to the Philippine government until there is compliance with national and international standards of human rights.
“Smaller projects can be much more cost-effective and do less environmental and social damage,” they wrote.
Also, these won’t be used by political leaders and commercial contractors, who often push for large-scale projects, for political purposes, claimed EANP.
EANP alleged JRMP-II will “disadvantage” and “devastate” the indigenous people because they will lose their ancestral lands and livelihoods once the construction works start.
The Tumandok people, they claimed, were made to sign waivers without an understanding of what these documents say.
They quoted Marevic Aguirre, chair of the Indigenous Farmers in Defense of Land and Life, as saying that NIA distorted information from the IPs on how the project will affect them.
“They never mentioned the inundation of the Tumandok villages near their project site. Yet, in the feasibility study in November 2011 to the Korean Export Import Bank, it indicated the submerging of the indigenous communities,” Aguirre said.
At least 10 EANP members signed the letter to the President.
They were Katrina Abarcar, Paul Bloom, Joseph Calugay, Brian Campbell, Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Gary King, Meg Layese, Linda McGloin, Tim McGloin and Rev. Marma Urbano./PN
