Japanese Financiers are Also to Blame for Disasters Caused by Dam

The controversial San Roque Dam, which began operation last year, has already claimed its toll: Pangasinan and Tarlac towns went under water when the dam was opened at the height of the recent typhoon. Related projects, like the irrigation dam, are in the pipeline and village peasants are once again protesting.

By JONG DELA CRUZ
Bulatlat

SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan – Residents of San Manuel, Pangasinan – located in the northern part of the Philippines – warned that the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), financier of the San Roque Multipurpose Dam Project (SRMDP) should “take responsibility for the lost livelihoods and the continuing threat the dam causes not just to Pangasinan province, but nearby Tarlac and Bulacan, and upstream Itogon.”

In a dialogue with representatives of the JBIC, San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) and National Power Corporation (NPC) last Oct. 6, the Tignay dagiti Mannalon a Mangwaya-waya iti Agno (Timmawa or Peasant Movement to Free the Agno) and the Pangasinan chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) stressed that their objections to the project had been made known to the dam proponents but they have yet to hear their response.

In 1998, the Japanese corporations Sithe, Marubeni and Kansai implemented the SRMDP despite protests from residents and other allied national and international groups. The SRMDP was awarded with $1.1-billion loan with the NPC as guarantor. Under the renegotiated Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between SRPC and NPC, the latter was to pay SRPC $10 million monthly for every 85 megawatts of electricity for the first 12 years. Failure of SRPC to generate electricity would not affect the agreed payment, however.

Contrasting Interests

Diosdado Rodrigo, 46, a resident of Barangay (village) Caboloan in San Nicolas town and also a leader of Irrigators Association (IA), told Bulatlat that during the quarrying for materials for the dam’s construction a few years back, four of his village’s 11 brass dams were destroyed. Brass dams are man-made dams put up by irrigators to control the water supply toward farmlands. Brass dams are effective means for Community Irrigation System (CIS) and building is a part of collective practice of local farmers.

Rodrigo added that quarrying also diverted the flow of the river, depriving their lands of irrigation.

Julian Lampa, 53, a former gold panner from Bgy. Pensikan in San Nicolas complained about his small land eroded by recent floods which militant groups suspect were caused by released waters from the dam during recent typhoons. Lampa cannot engage in pagsasayyo (gold panning) anymore along the banks of Agno River due to the dam’s construction which started in 1998.

The people’s clamor, said Francisco Dangla III, convenor of the Task Force Stop San Roque Dam, should be included in the monitoring of JBIC. The latter, he said, “should consult directly with the people and not with SRPC or NPC because they do not represent the people.” The Task Force Stop San Roque Dam is a student-based alliance in the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City opposing the construction and operation of the mega-dam.

For its part, Bayan revealed that around 500 hectares of abundant land were taken away by the dam’s construction in 1998. Tillers of these lands located in San Manuel, San Nicolas and Itogon remain uncompensated.

Land acquisitions under the dam project forced 741 families to leave and about 259,000 individuals lost their livelihood. Timmawa has identified at least 3,000 families who were barred by SRPC authorities from gold panning along Agno River banks.

Review

Hirobumi Takaoka, JBIC envoy advisor, explained that a screening committee was formed early this year to verify the eligibility of affected communities for compensation and pressure groups, Timmawa in particular, are involved in the committee.

Meanwhile, Hozue Hatae, convenor of Friends of the Earth-Japan (FoEJ) said that JBIC must pay attention to the old problems caused by the San Roque Dam. “The monitoring team should listen to the affected people and must respond directly to them, otherwise I wonder why they conduct regular monitoring.”

Her group arranged another meeting with JBIC and Japan’s Ministry of Finance in Tokyo on October 25 to discuss the issues raised. This could put more pressure on the Japanese government to reform their environmental policies and methods in monitoring, she added.

The FoEJ serves as watchdog for JBIC-financed projects such as the SRMPDP while its allied group, Legal and Natural Resource Center (LNRC), deals with the legal matters related to the calls of affected communities.

Future risks

Meanwhile, Timmawa chair Jose Doton said direct foreign investments could post long-term risks to immediate communities.

Doton revealed that proposed projects related to the operation of San Roque dam and awaiting JBIC financial assistance will only further threaten the lives of villagers and their sources of income. He cited the Agno River Integrated Rehabilitation Project (ARIIP), the irrigation component of the dam which cost P6.89 billion ($122.23 million, based on an exchange rate of P56.37 per U.S. dollar). Other San Roque dam-related projects include the Poponto Catch basin project and Bayambang short-cut channel and will start construction in 2005.

Officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) claimed that the project, with a total service area of 34,450 hectares in 17 municipalities would benefit 28,000 families. But Timmawa’s Doton feared that 24 villages would go under water as 70 percent of water from the dam will be diverted in those areas.

A priest opposed to the dam, Rev. Fr. Eleuterio Revollido, said that there is a need to review foreign policies and commitments of the Philippine government to address the needs of the toiling masses. Projects like the San Roque Dam, he said, are like “white elephants” which do not render service to the people but instead risk not just livelihoods, but also people’s lives and their future. Bulatlat

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