What is the Kaliwa Dam project?

Published October 29, 2019 11:03pm

By MA. ANGELICA GARCIA, GMA News

The China-funded Kaliwa Dam project, which will be constructed along Rizal and Quezon
provinces is seen to augment the water supply from Angat Dam.

The Kaliwa Dam, which has a height of 60 meters, is expected to put an end to water shortages
in Metro Manila since it will provide additional 600 million liters of raw water per day.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) already issued the Kaliwa Dam
project with an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

The ECC is one of the requirements for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System
(MWSS) and China Energy Engineering Corp. to proceed with the 12.2 billion peso project,
including a free prior and informed consent from the indigenous people.

According to the DENR, the ECC was issued by the Environmental Management Bureau to the
project after it satisfied the requirements of the Environmental Impact Statement System.

However, the Commission on Human Rights allegedly said there might have been a fake
consultation and approval from the affected indigenous communities.

At stake

The project would submerge parts of General Nakar and Infanta in Quezon Province. It would
also affect the Sierra Madre in Tanay, Rizal, some groups claim.

The Haribon Foundation said the town of Infanta, which is a delta or a landform created by
deposition of sediment, might be erased from the map if this project pushes through.

But the MWSS said they will provide housing and other resources for the indigenous people who
will be affected.
Environmental groups also said the flooding caused by the project will displace and kill species
that live in the area.

But President Rodrigo Duterte said he is ready to use expropriation or the police power of the
state to put an end to water shortages, even if the environment is at risk.

Delayed

In 2014, the Kaliwa Dam project was initially rolled out as a PPP project, with two qualifying
bidders — SMC-K Water Consortium (San Miguel Holdings Corp. and Korea Water Resources
Corp.); and the Abeima-Datem Consortium (Albeinsa Infraestructura Medio Ambiento S.A and
Datem Inc.)

The project involved the development of a new water source to meet the increasing water
demands by constructing a redundant dam for Metro Manila's domestic water supply.

The government, however, under the administration of Duterte, in March 2017 chose to instead
push through with the project under an ODA scheme.

In 2017, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III signed a financing agreement for the project in
which China would provide soft loans estimated at $234.92 million covering Phase 1-Kaliwa
Dam, and Phase 2-Laiban Dam.

The final loan agreement was scheduled to be signed by government officials of both the
Philippines and China in November 2018.

The project, however, has been met with opposition as community groups said over 14,000
households of mainly indigenous peoples would be displaced.—LDF, GMA News

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/713465/what-is-the-kaliwa-dam-project/story/
Why gov’t should cancel Kaliwa Dam project

09:01 AM April 22, 2019

We, individuals and organizations under the STOP Kaliwa Dam (Sectors Opposed to the Kaliwa
Dam), are gravely concerned with the government’s attempt to use the “water crisis” in Metro
Manila to aggressively push the Kaliwa Dam Project. We reject the project on the following
grounds:

1. It violates legal processes.

The project has failed to secure free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) from the
Dumagat/Remontado as required by Republic Act No. 8173 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act.

Indigenous peoples (IP) leaders in the area have questioned the FPIC process undertaken by the
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples because they were not provided copies of relevant
documents, from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System as the project proponent,
which are essential in evaluating the project and making informed decisions.

The Environmental Management Bureau has not issued an environmental compliance certificate,
which is required of any project that poses a potential environmental risk or impact.

2. It will destroy the area’s rich biodiversity.

The dam will be constructed within a forest reserve declared under Proclamation No. 573 on June
22, 1968. Under Presidential Proclamation No. 1636 issued on April 18, 1977, a portion of the
watershed was also declared a national park and wildlife sanctuary.

The forests and coastline of PP 1636 are a key habitat to 15 species of amphibians, 334 bird
species, 1,476 fish species, 963 invertebrate species, 81 mammal species, 50 plant species and 60
reptile species. Building a megadam in the area will cause irreparable damage to the surrounding
ecosystem and devastate animal and plant life.

3. It will contribute to the climate crisis.

Dam reservoirs are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, most notably methane, which
is up to 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and causing
global warming. Large dams emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gases during construction.

4. It will come at an enormous social cost.

The ancestral domains of the Dumagat/Remontado include areas within the Kaliwa River Basin
where the dam will be constructed. Sacred sites as well as burial grounds will be submerged by its
reservoir.

Apart from the IP sites, an estimated 424 households will be affected based on a feasibility study.
The dam will impact the areas further downstream, most notably the municipality of Infanta, which
will lose the benefit of sediment-carrying river flows.

5. It puts people’s lives at risk.

Kaliwa Dam will be constructed within the zone of two active tectonic plates represented by the
Philippine Fault Zone and the Valley Fault System.

Many large-scale earthquakes were recorded in the past in this area, and the relative movement of
6 centimeters was observed in 1991-1993 along the Philippine fault line.

The Philippine fault zone has a potential to cause very high seismic activity, as what was recorded
in the earthquake of July 18, 1880, when the old churches of Infanta, Mauban (both in Quezon
province) and Manila Cathedral were devastated.

6. It will add to debt and tie us to an onerous loan we do not need.

The official development assistance loan from China, through the

Export-Import Bank of China, will add to the country’s ballooning debt, which is expected to hit
an all-time high of P8 trillion this year.

More than this, it binds the country to an onerous agreement that encroaches on our sovereignty
and opens up assets and natural resources to potential seizure by China.

Taken together, these aforementioned reasons are more than enough to call into serious question
the wisdom of pushing through with the construction of Kaliwa Dam.
https://opinion.inquirer.net/120878/why-govt-should-cancel-kaliwa-dam-project

Kaliwa Dam, a debt trap?

By: Ma. Ceres P. Doyo - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:18 AM November 15, 2018

A news report several days go said the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS)
has allayed fears on the construction of the P12.1-billion New Centennial Water Source (NCWS)-
Kaliwa Dam Project, which is opposed by vocal sectors. Why the “fears”?

The Kaliwa Dam to be built in Quezon province has been in the pipeline for three decades.
Expected to be operational by 2023 if begun soon, it is supposed to complement the Angat Dam,
which supplies 96 percent of the water needs of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal and Cavite.

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According to MWSS Administrator Reynaldo Velasco, Kaliwa Dam will add 34 million liters
daily to the mentioned areas. It is supposed to address the possible water shortage that Metro
Manila and surrounding areas might experience in the coming years. And it is “a done deal,”
Velasco added, meaning that President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be signing
the contract on Nov. 21.

Who are saying no to the construction of Kaliwa Dam?

In July, 51 Catholic bishops and four priests expressed support for a pastoral letter issued and
signed by Bishop Prelate of Infanta Bernardino C. Cortez titled “No to Kaliwa Dam, Yes to
Alternative Sources of Water.”

While the dam could mean more water for Metro Manilans, the letter enumerated the reasons why
the dam is a cause for concern for the inhabitants of the area where the dam will be built, short of
saying it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

“It will inundate the ancestral domain of the Dumagat-Remontados, uprooting them from the
Sierra Madre where their ancestors lived for centuries enjoying a symbiotic relationship with the
earth like the children to their mother. Undeniably, until now the indigenous people have not given
a Free, Prior and Informed Consent to the Kaliwa Dam project as required by Republic Act No.
8371.” Or have they, have they?

This is not a romanticizing of “the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks” of
poetry. There is more to the plaint of the people of Sierra Madre than meets the eye.

The dam will be constructed over the Infanta Fault and will endanger some 100,000 people who
live downstream of the Kaliwa River, the letter said. In 2004, a flash flood in the area left 1,000
people dead and millions worth of properties destroyed. Velasco was reported as saying that the
dam could withstand an 8-magnitude earthquake.

With climate change and erratic weather that have brought even high-tech and well-prepared
countries to their knees, and with unpredictable rainfall that comes in unprecedented torrents
hereabouts, how much can this dam hold? Can it withstand a “Yolanda”-type supertyphoon?

The bishop’s letter offers alternatives for thirsty 30 million Metro Manilans, among them, water
management to reduce water consumption and waste, rainwater harvesting, rehabilitation of the
Pasig-Laguna River Basin, adoption of the Singapore New Water technology (treatment of
wastewater), and most important, expansion of the dwindling forests that serve as watersheds that
could refill the underground aquifers.

The bishop’s pastoral letter is echoed in a letter sent recently to President Duterte by groups such
as Alyansa Laban sa Kaliwa Dam, Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance, Purisima, Task Force
Sierra Madre, Tribal Center for Development, Green Convergence and Alyansa Tigil Mina, to
name some.

The proposed NCWS-Kaliwa Dam Project “will inundate 291 hectares of forest from the total
9,800 hectares in Infanta-Kaliwa Watershed, including the sacred site of Dumagat-Remontado in
the areas of Tinipak in Barangay Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal,” they said.

The environmental groups allege that President Duterte is “being manipulated by his advisers to
sign the contract…with Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
“It is a debt trap,” the groups warn. President Duterte’s advisers “are simply duplicating Sri
Lanka’s Hambantota airport and seaport experience,” with said Chinese-funded projects having
turned into liabilities.

Remember, “Come hither, hither, said the spider to the fly”? Or the old saying, beware of Greeks
bearing gifts? Learn from Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who canceled projects
with China to avoid being trapped. While in Singapore these past days for the Asean Summit,
President Duterte, with his foul mouth in check, should have made time for a tête-à-tête with
Mahathir.