INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' WATCH

Drought Threatens Ilocos, Benguet Farms, Fishponds

Ilocano and Igorot upland farmers are up in arms over an ongoing energy project that diverts waters from two mighty rivers stretching from Cervantes, Ilocos Sur to Bakun, Benguet. If fully operational, the water diversion project will bring drought to scores of ricelands and threaten food security – in short, an economic disaster.

By Arabella Fordan
Bulatlat.com

BAGUIO CITY - Drought threatens some 1,400 hectares of riceland, vegetable orchards and fishponds in Cervantes, Ilocos Sur and Bakun, Benguet.

This disaster looms as a 3.6-meter wide, 9.8-km.diversion tunnel that stretches from sub-sitio Matotot-o, Papassok, Barangay Dalipey in Cervantes to Sitio Dalinguan, Barangay Sinacbat in Bakun, Benguet will soon rise. The tunnel diverts the waters of the Lomboy and Suyoc Rivers.

If fully operational, the Bakun AC Supplementary Water Project is expected to cause drought to some 500 has. of riceland in Cervantes, and another 75 has. of riceland, 145 has. of vegetable orchard and 646 sq.m. of fishponds in Bakun, totaling 1,366 has.

Windel Bolinget, secretary general of Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), over the weekend said if the Lomboy and Suyoc Rivers are diverted Cervantes communities will be denied of water for irrigation, pasture and residential purposes.

Some of the worst hit towns in Ilocos Sur, said Bolinget, is Guitlangan. Water from the two rivers is the town’s only source of fresh water as water coming from Mankayan is polluted brought about by the mining operations of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company. The two rivers dilute toxic water coming from Mankayan, he said.

But residents of Cervantes and Bakun are not taking the imminent disaster sitting down. Villagers of Barangay Rosario have secured a resolution declaring their opposition to the project which also diverts water from the Lomboy Creek and Suyoc Rivers. The resolution also says that the diversion tunnel will bleed dry the irrigation supply of the farm villages of Comillas North and Comillas South.

As a result, the residents said, farm production will be threatened forcing them to buy instead of producing rice at a higher price.

Echoing the Ilocanos’ concern, residents of Barangay Kayapa, Bakun, south of Ilocos Sur also oppose the tunnel. Citing their own experience, they said that a tunnel has been built covering lower Takbo to Pilpil in Kayapa. In their resolution, the Kayapa residents said the tunnel of the Luzon Hydro Corporation/HEDCOR has dried up their water supply. Affected by the tunnel, they said, are several sitios and sub-sitios of Kayapa.

In violation of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) signed in 1997, the corporation failed to provide electricity to the town and build a new P2-million access road from sitio Pilipil to Kayapa, the residents also said.

Similar resolutions against the water project have been issued by other barangay councils as well as indigenous peoples organizations. In Sinacbat, Bagu, the Dalipey Indigenous Peoples Association (SIPBAD), a local organization, has led protests against the project since last year. In Ampusongan , the Bakun Indigenous Tribes Organization, Inc. (BITO), has demanded a moratorium on the project particularly within the Kankanaey-Bago ancestral domain of Bakun.

A supposed Power Purchase Agreement signed by the National Power Corporation (NPC) allows independent power producers, including the Luzon Hydro, to use supplementary water to the power plant without any feasible alternatives.

In 1992 and 1993, three commissioned power plants, the Takbo, Labay and Lon-oy power plants in Barangay Poblacion and Sinacbat began to harness the hydrostatic powers of  Bakun and Lon-oy Rivers.

The Bakun AC Supplementary Project is reportedly designed to supplement the 70-megawatt monthly energy output of the power station at Pilpil by diverting water from the Bakun River and a nearby river in order to power  a new 10-megawatt power plant.  Bulatlat.com

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