INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S WATCH

Damning Effect of Revived Laiban Dam

Ten thousand indigenous peoples and upland settlers are bound to be displaced with the revival of the Laiban Dam, touted by government as a priority project with a $1-billion financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As the opposition to the project increases, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is using military and paramilitary units to quell social unrest to impose its kind of development in the Sierra Madre mountain range.

By MAY VARGAS
National Minority Resource Center (NMRC) 
Contributed to Bulatlat 

For the Dumagat and Remontado indigenous peoples living in the Sierra Madre mountain range, south of Metro Manila, Makidyapat, their supreme maker, created the natural resources. For them, land is for all the people because all of them were born and will be buried there.

The reconstruction of the Laiban Dam challenges this belief of the Dumagat and Remontado as the submersion of eight barangays (villages) within the boundary of Rizal and Quezon provinces is feared. The areas are home to about 10,000 indigenous peoples and upland settlers.

Aside from the displacement, more indigenous and peasant families will be evacuated from the targeted dam reservoir in General Nakar and Infanta in Quezon, a province south of Metro Manila, according to the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KAMP, the national federation of indigenous peoples organizations in the Philippines).   

KAMP coordinator Nonoy Gobrin said that at 113-meter height, the Laiban Dam will directly affect 20,000 hectares of the mountainous area of the Sierra Madre mountain range. “As it projects to direct 2,400 million liters of water daily, it will inevitably affect the irrigation supply of lowland farms even along the municipalities of Infanta and Real Quezon province,” he said.

The Laiban, then known as the Kaliwa Kanan (left-right), refers to the river that traverses along the slopes of the Sierra Madre and into the Pacific shoreline on the side of Quezon. During the Marcos presidency 1960s-mid-1980s, the dam project was envisioned to be a part of the Industrial Complex Plan in North Eastern Luzon. But due to the people’s opposition, Marcos and his developers failed to push through with the project, leaving only two diversion tunnels.  

Today, the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has identified Laiban Dam as a priority project, with financial assistance worth $1 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The dam is designed to give water supply, ensure flood control and provide hydropower.  

Who benefits?   

However, the Southern Tagalog Environmental Action Movement (STEAM) stressed that the primary beneficiaries of the Laiban Dam are the industrial parks like the Calamba-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon Industrial Zone (CALABARZON, five provinces south of Metro Manila) and the Pacific Coast City in Quezon.

The dam, STEAM added, will not contribute to the development of the Dumagat and Remontado indigenous peoples. It said that the dam is no different from the Angat-Umiray Trans Basin Project in the previous years that resulted in the massive displacement of residents. 

Manila-based advocate groups likewise said that the Philippine government does not have a holistic development program that will accommodate the culture of the indigenous peoples. The Philippine government, they said, always insists on the “development for the common good” without putting sufficient emphasis on programs for the indigenous peoples.  

Deceptive schemes with militarization  

The Task Force Laiban Dam - composed of IP regional organizations, national federations, environment concerned organizations and other concerned sectors – have received reports that since the revival of the Laiban Dam, local government units (LGUs) have been persuading affected residents to participate in the Kaliwa Watershed Project packaged under the Laiban Dam.  

In addition, the residents complained of being offered “tenure instruments.” Through the latter, the LGU officials said the people would be allowed by the government to rent the land on which they have lived for 25 years, renewable after the lease date expires.

Decried Berto San Jose, a member of the Katutubong Binigkis ang Lakas para sa Tribong Dumagat (KABALAT-DUMAGAT, or Indigenous Peoples United by the Strength of the Dumagat Tribe): “It’s a blatant insult to us who are the children of the Sierra Madre. We and our ancestors have tended these lands long before any government was established. The land which is sacred to us…is a mere commodity to the government.”

KABALAT-DUMAGAT was formed by community members from the eight directly-affected barangays.

Last July 19, leaders and members of the KABALAT-DUMAGAT and Task Force Laiban Dam, together with indigenous peoples and environment advocates, trooped to the ADB head office in Metro Manila. In a dialogue with the ADB, the TF found out that P2.36 million ($42,385.06, based on an exchange rate of P55.68 per US dollar) has already been released by the ADB for the project.

Increasing CAFGU recruitment

Meanwhile, Citizens Armed Forces Geograhical Unit (CAFGU) recruitment among the Dumagat and Remontado has been stepped up by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), allocating 20 percent of its personnel for the indigenous peoples. The latter have long denounced this military scheme, saying CAFGU recruitment sows disunity among them.

Most villagers however continue to refuse joining the CAFGU believing that they are just being used by the military as a cannon fodder or shields for their counter-insurgency operations.   

Military atrocities in the Southern Tagalog region peaked in 2000-2001 when 11 military battalions were deployed in the area, causing the displacement of about 220 indigenous families living in four provinces, including Rizal and Quezon. 

Continuing the struggle  

Despite the dangers, many people of Rizal and Quezon vowed to continue the struggle that was waged 25 years ago. The death of Nicanor “Tatay Kano” Delos Santos is now the rallying point for the advancement of the anti-Laiban Dam campaign. Delos Santos was killed last Dec. 8, 2001 allegedly by members of the Task Force Panther of the 2^nd Infantry Division of the Philippine Army led by Col. Laureano Tolentino.

At present, reports from various community members show that the AFP has resorted to red-baiting, tagging leaders as rebels. With the peoples’ resistance gaining ground, the villagers expressed fear that the AFP will heighten the implementation of its repressive measures to quell the peoples’ unrest. Bulatlat

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