Indigenous folk from the provinces of Quezon, Rizal and Bulacan are up in arms over the proposed construction of dams in the Sierra Madre mountain range that it is feared would submerge large swaths of forested and agricultural lands.
At a recent summit held in Infanta, Quezon, more than 100 leaders of the Aeta, Dumagat and Remontado tribes voiced their opposition to the national government’s plan to erect at least five dams to meet the water needs of Metro Manila.
“If the dams push through, hundreds of hectares of pristine forest, agricultural land and our ancestral domain within the Kaliwa-Kanan and Agos River watershed will be submerged,” the leaders were quoted as saying in a statement by the Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance Inc. (SSMNA).
At the Indigenous Peoples Summit held on April 22-23, the ethnic leaders raised objections to the proposed New Centennial Water Supply Source Project whose components would include the Laiban Dam, Kaliwa Lower Dam, Sumag Dam and Kanan Dam, and the Multi-River Hydropower cum Bulk Water Development Project which will be put up in Laguna.
Click here to read the full story.
