No-go until all issues are resolved.
This is what Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles said after the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for issuing a notice to proceed (NTP) to the Chinese contractor of the Kaliwa Dam project despite it having to comply yet with environmental guidelines and secure the consent of the affected Indigenous Peoples.
“If the project is completed and we find out later that there are problems, we cannot undo the damage that has already been done.”
“The Kaliwa Dam project must be shelved until all the issues plaguing it are resolved. Nasa huli ang pagsisisi; if the project is completed and we find out later that there are problems, we cannot undo the damage that has already been done,” stressed the solon.
The state audit agency, in its 2019 annual audit report on MWSS, said the latter had issued the NTP to China Energy Engineering Company, Inc. (CEEC), to construct the P12.2-billion Kaliwa Dam project, which will be funded through official development assistance from China, despite its pending compliance with requirements.
COA also said that the project’s proponents had not presented documents that would prove compliance with requisites stated in the conditional environmental compliance certificate, nor had they provided reports on the status of compliance with documentary requirements.
“The loan agreement has pre-requisites that must first be satisfied before the project is allowed to proceed.”
According to COA, among the preconditions of the project’s loan agreement is the receipt of the copy of the ECC.
Meanwhile, among the conditions listed in the ECC is that the project cannot proceed until certifications from the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), including the Certificate of Precondition after the Free and Prior Informed Consent, are obtained from affected IP communities.
The COA explained that affected IPs’ consent shall be stated in a written resolution called the Resolution of Consent or the Resolusyon ng Pagpayag.
COA, though, said that after they examined the RP of the Dumagat/Remontado Tribe of General Nakar, Quezon, which was submitted by MWSS, they discovered “deficiencies which cast doubts on the validity of the Resolution as well as the acceptability and legitimacy of the signatures gathered.”
“Hindi nararapat na tinatapakan ang ating batas para sa kontrobersiyal na proyektong ito. This should be clear and there’s really no room for debate—unless the project implementers have fully complied with all the requirements, the project should not proceed,” said the lawmaker.
The neophyte legislator, whose district would be affected by the dam project, had earlier opposed the dam’s construction.
Nograles filed House Resolution No. 309 in 2019, which sought to investigate the alleged anomalous awarding of the project to CEEC.
The Harvard-trained lawyer emphasized that the project’s implementers should not cut any corners.
“The loan agreement has pre-requisites that must first be satisfied before the project is allowed to proceed. Napakahalagang masunod ang mga ito dahil buhay ang nakasalalay dito—buhay ng mga apektadong IP communities, at buhay ng mga susunod na henerasyon na tiyak malalagay sa panganib kung hindi sinigurong compliant sa environmental impact assessment,” the solon said.
Nograles urged those involved with the project “not to flout our laws and trample on people’s lives.”