Benguet Residents Oppose Water Deal with
Gold Producer
Baguio and Cordillera
residents are crying foul over the water deal clinched recently by Benguet
Corporation. Water which used to be free in Itogon town will now have to
be paid for and there could also be adverse health effects, it was
feared.
By Lyn V. Ramo
Northern Dispatch (Nordis)
Bulatlat
BAGUIO CITY –
Organized residents of Baguio and Cordillera are protesting the grant of
bulk water contract to Benguet Corporation (BC) by the Baguio Water
District (BWD).
Led by militant
groups, the residents held a silent protest in front of the Baguio city
hall Nov. 9 during the council’s regular session to seek the council’s
support against the water deal.
“We will make our
voices heard even as we stage a silent protest until authorities will heed
us and stop the bulk water project,” said Chie Galvez, Tongtongan ti Umili
(people’s forum) secretary-general and Pro-CONSUMERS convenor.
Galvez said that
there is enough water in Baguio if only efforts at drilling and
rehabilitating wells are made. “But BWD should see to it that the water is
safe, sufficient and that no party is aggrieved in any deal,” she said.
The protesters warned
that, among other economic and health effects, the water deal given to one
of the country’s biggest mining corporations would result in the
toxification of water in the city.
Geraldine Cacho of
Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad (ORNUS), an urban poor
group said, “Madi kami iti narugit a danum. Agasem ta agiyegda ti
danum nga adda’t makasabidong a laokna” (We’re against dirty water.
It’s shocking they will be giving us a poisoned water).
Joining the Nov. 9
protest were of Anakbayan, National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP),
League of Filipino Students (LFS), College Editors’ Guild of the
Philippines (CEGP), Student Christian Movement (SCM), the Pinagkaisang
Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) Tongtongan ti
Umili(TTU-CPA), Gabriela-Innabuyog, COURAGE-Cordillera, Alyansa dagiti
Pesante iti Taeng Kordilyera (APIT TAKO) and the Itogon Inter-barangay
Alliance (IIBA).
Water for sale?
Nida Cupatan-Legazpi,
APIT TAKO spokesperson and a resident of Gumatdang in nearby Itogon town
where BC is planning to get its bulk water supply, told reporters that the
villagers have not approved the bulk water project, as required by
environmental law.
She fears that the
meager water supply that residents now use for free may fall under BC’s
control once the bulk water project starts.
BC, once a major gold
producer in the world, earlier announced that it has secured 58 water
permits and most of these involve water sources in Itogon.
Legazpi also said
that the water deal would bring added burden for poor peasants in Itogon
who eke out a living through small-scale lode mining production, farming
and swidden gardening.
As a result of the
protest, the city council invited people’s representatives to the
citizens’ forum of the session where the Pro-CONSUMERS position paper was
read. Representatives of the Local Water Utility Administration, BWD and
BC have also been asked to appear before the city council to explain the
deal.
Earlier, BWD
Pre-qualification Bids and Awards Committee (PBAC) rejected BC’s bulk
water bid after finding BC’s water sources are not enough.
The PBAC added that
the Antamok open pit site which is the proposed reservoir is
contaminated with lead, mercury and cadmium. Such highly toxic elements
could contaminate the bulk water supply, PBAC warned.
A P7.3 million
protest fee was placed by BC that obliged BWD Board of Trustees to
reconsider and re-open the bidding process.
Roland Rabang, BWD
Board of Directors and its Public Relations Officer, could not be reached
as of press time to shed light on the issue. Nordis / Posted by
Bulatlat
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